


fire and gasoline.

by devilarcana



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Demon Hunters, Demons, Oni Genji, Other, POV Second Person, Reader Insert, Slow Burn, Van Helsing McCree, halloween terror event, jeff wont give me any good content so i gotta do everything my damn self., zomnics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2019-07-18 02:33:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 37,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16108958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilarcana/pseuds/devilarcana
Summary: Aldersbrunn, a town that's been destroyed by something supernatural. Something's been looming over the town for months, people are either dying or fleeing, and the town has reached it's breaking point. That's where you and your partner Jesse come in. The only issue is that whatever forces are hurting this town are illusive, and the more you learn about this town, the more lost from the truth you get. What's a demon hunter to do?Oh right, it's to get involved with a demon who holds all the cards in the palm of his hand.





	1. Chapter 1

“Y’know, this job could really last us a while.”

Jesse’s voice snaps you out of your thoughts. The walk to Aldersbrunn was long and desolate, nothing but dead trees that blocked the way of a cloudy sky. It’s not like you can’t help but lose focus in the never-ending travel. Horsemen and carriages would only go so far to what seemed like a cursed town, so the rest was on you two to walk.

“Define ‘a while’,” you respond. “I mean, I’m not expecting us to finish this in a week, but I’m not getting stuck here for a year.”

Jesse almost smirks as he flicks his now finished cigar into the dirt and crushes it under his boot. He then throws an arm around your shoulder as he says, “What, you don’t love the idea of having our job already paid while we’re working instead of reaping the reward afterwards?”

You groan in pain as you pull Jesse’s arm off of you, your shoulders in burning pain from having to carry your belongings for this long. “It’s not that and you know it,” you answer as you readjust yourself. “Besides, I’d think you’d get tired of being stuck in one town after so long yourself.”

He laughs, “Your bet’d be right.” He notices your adjustment and makes a move to hold one of your bags, but you instead move to pat his back, to which he flinches in pain.

“I thought so,” you say as he readjusts his own bags. “There’s no way you aren’t also hurting right now. Hopefully we’ll be there soon, don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

There’s some silence as he stares at you for a minute before he sighs in defeat and mutters to himself, “You can accept help sometimes, y’know…”

You smile to yourself at his kindness as you both press on, and along the path you see the trees start to lift, letting you see more of the foggy and dim sky. Up ahead, you see tall towers and buildings, amazing architecture made of stone clashing against homes made of wood that looked as if they were left to rot that stood on the outside of the town. There really was no activity either of you could even notice, no lights, no smoke from the chimneys despite the cold weather brought by autumn, just homes that looked as if they’ve been abandoned for years now.

This is the place. Aldersbrunn. And despite the fact that this place used to be a capital, it now looked more like a ghost town.

As Jesse and you got closer to your destination, he started to recall the info given to you already, “So most’ve the town’s already packed up and headed west.” He scratches the back of his head. “People don’t necessarily wanna live in a town where, chances are, they’ll end up dead or mutilated in their own homes.”

“It’s really interesting that this would go on for months though,” you add as you pull out the notes from the bag at your side. “Clearly we’re not the only hunters on this Earth, so it’s gotta be something stronger than just some monster. Hell, it could be even multiple things…”

“Well, at least it’s not just some off the grid town stumped by a vampire hiding in plain sight,” Jesse sighs, almost as if he’s been disappointed in past missions.

It’s true that this was going to be a big task though. Both of you knew whenever you accepted that call to come here that this wouldn’t be easy. Hell, the woman who called you even said you could die or go missing like the others, but what a way to go right?

The dirt road you’ve been walking on finally turns to concrete as the two of you enter the town. Despite that evening is about to end, the streetlights are still off. The fog still thick in the town, you really couldn’t make much of the houses that were still in the distance, nor could you really find your way to where you needed to be. It really was a greeting combined with the empty streets. “So,” you start as Jesse checks out the empty homes, “how do you suppose we find the doctor’s clinic?”

“Same way we always do,” Jesse responds as he continues looking up and down the path. “Find the bar, get a drink, and have the bartender give us what we need.”

Of course. Over the years you’ve been partners, you’ve really established a rhythm. Learn about the town, have some drinks, trap the being behind the trouble, drink again for a celebration, pack up and leave. This mission may be a big one, but Jesse still wanted to take it the same route. Who knows, maybe you can pack it up as quickly as all the others.

This town may have used to be a capital, but it wasn’t very large at least. It looked more like a home for the rich if anything, boasting how the king’s wealth practically poured into the town. Even homes that looked smaller than average looked immaculate, beautiful stone and Interesting layouts really defined them alongside the finishing touches of designs that really showed what this town had to offer. Walking deeper into the ghost of the town, both of you finally come across larger homes and what seems to be former shops and bars that looked like no one even packed up before leaving, just people trying to flee as if their lives depended on it.

“Well, might be a little tough findin’ a bar,” Jesse speaks up as you investigate what looks like an empty clothes shop. “Can’t even find someone breathin’ at this rate, unless they’re all hidin’ from us.”

“Actually, it might make sense if the town moved closer together,” you respond. “The remnants of the town, at least. Probably valued the sense of community during the sense of the situation.”

Jesse tosses the bags off his shoulders as he sighs in relief. “The more we travel in this town, the less we find.” He pulls out a tin from his pocket and grabs another cigar from it. “At this rate we’re gonna be lucky if we just see a light flickerin’.”

Following Jesse’s lead, you also take the bags off your shoulders and rest them against the concrete road. You lean against what seems to be a broken street lamp and take a good look of the surroundings. Suddenly, there’s one building in the distance that catches your eye in the distance where, instead of just shut doors and windows, the windows were actually boarded shut. You call out to your partner as he lights his cigar, “Hey, think it’s a little interesting that the one shop over there is boarded shut as opposed to just abandoned?”

Jesse turns around to look at the building you’ve mentioned. It’s a larger one that’s for sure, looks more like an inn than a shop, but it’s a lead. Both of you slowly pick up the bags you’ve dropped on the ground as you walk towards the boarded up inn.

Far away, it looks strange. Up close, it looks like the best lead you’ve had since you’ve arrived. Through the wooden boards across the windows, you can see a faint light slipping through, one that nearly blends in with the foggy evening. You and Jesse turn to look at each other almost comically, but both of you exactly what needed to happen as Jesse pulled the door of the inn open. Light, for the first time, flooded your eyes as you took in the surroundings of this inn. No one at the front desk, but the place was nicely lit and looked well kept. Someone else had to be here.

Jesse drops his bags in front of the desk out front as he looks through the building and within seconds, both of you can here a “Who’s out there?” called out from a room in the back. Both of you, actually surprised to hear someone else’s voice, rush to the room and you dropped the bags you held in the process.

The room appeared to be a sort of bar and lobby, and at the bar stood a woman as tall as Jesse, piercing eyes that were anything but kind as she spoke to you, “You two definitely aren’t from around here.”

Jesse tips his hat to the woman as he apologizes, “Didn’t mean to startle you, ma’am. Definitely not from around here but definitely here to help.”

She scoffs at him then smirks, “You’re not the first to say that to me and you won’t be the last. It’s not necessarily like we’re dealing with a simple pest problem.” Nevertheless, she grabs two scotch glasses from behind the bar and lays them out in front of two of the barstools. “But,” she grabs one of the few bottles of scotch behind her, “I’d love to hear how you plan to. Tell me, do you plan to bring us supplies? Bring us your blessings and wise words, or are you the newest set of fools roped up to finding the cause of all this?”

Jesse’s not one to turn down a drink as he takes a seat at the bar. As you sit beside him, you explain, “Wouldn’t call us fools. We’re experienced in what we do, solved hundreds supernatural cases before this one, all of different caliber.”

She chuckles, almost laughs at you as she continues, “Several people have said that before you, you know.” Her long nails clack against the hardwood as she taps her fingers against the bar. “But nevertheless, it should be fun to see you try. A lot of us don’t want to leave Aldersbrunn. This place is still our home. We want it back to where it was.”

“Well, maybe you can help point us in the right direction,” Jesse says after a drink of scotch. “We’re looking for a Lindholm. She’s the one who called us here.”

The woman’s face deadpans as she answers, “Oh. Her.”

“So you know her?” you ask, noticing her bitter expression.

“Unfortunately, yes,” she answers. “She only comes here every once every few weeks. She doesn’t even live here, never has, just an advisor sent from the new capital to try and fix our town.” She turns her back to you to adjust the few bottles left on the back counter. “It all feels very performative to me, since. Most of what she does is give us little money and hires some new demon hunter to come here and fail. Looks like you’re her newest picks.”

“Look let’s not put it like we’re just the catch of the day here,” Jesse speaks up, one glass of scotch downed. “We know what we’re doin’, you can place a little faith in us here. Besides, this Miss Lindholm said she’d pay for all of our expenses while we’re here.”

“Well, that’s better than the previous I’ll admit,” the bartender says with a heavy sigh. “Regardless, if you’re going to be staying in town, this inn will probably be your safest place. As long as Satya approves, of course.”

She pours Jesse another glass as she asks, “Now, will the new hunters tell me their names?”

“Name’s McCree,” Jesse replies as he places a hand on your (still sore) shoulder. “This here’s my partner.” You take that opportunity to give her your own name.

“So, married?” she asks.

You’re quick to respond, “You’re not the first one to assume so, but no.” Jesse nods as you continue, “Just partners in hunting with a strong friendship.”

She smirks again, “Well I must say, like the others before you, I’m eager to see if you’ll solve the mystery. If you need any information on the town, feel free to approach me. I’ll let you know you won’t see most of the others any time past daytime, so if you’re wanting to question others, it’s out of the question now. Again, if you’re wanting to stay here, that’ll be Satya’s decision, but as long as you’re tidy and aren’t here to ruin the inn she put time into, you should be fine. And one last thing—”

She reaches for the cigar in Jesse’s mouth, grabs it, and crushes it into a plate left on the bar. “—no smoking in the building, please.”

You let out a chuckle as Jesse looks hurt and honestly almost pouts over the loss of the cigar. The woman finally introduces herself with a slick smile and the same piercing eyes, “Call me Moira. Now, what’s first on your agenda?”

“Meeting Lindholm by a clinic,” Jesse says sorely, obviously wishing he hadn’t lost the tobacco. “Where would that be?”

Moira is silent for a moment before she responds. “It’s close to the Junker’s Tower. Quite frankly, the fact that she’s asking you to meet her there during this hour is almost as if she’s going to throw you to the wolves.”

“Care to explain why?” you ask as you sip on your glass.

“The Junker’s Tower was thought to be just an abandoned tower lurking after the capital moved alongside the original royal buildings,” Moira explained. “Except there’s been sighting of a weird, lanky man walking around outside of it, collecting scrap metal and always smells as if he’s rotting. Before this town was thrown to Hell, he was what was you were scared of in the night. It’s why no one went towards the royal buildings after the capital moved.” She pours Jesse another glass of scotch as she continues, “But of course, most of it’s speculation. None of us go near there. That part was always on the edge of town. Had it not been for the few shops left over there that were still influential, we would have cut that part off from the town completely.”

“Strange town,” Jesse mutters as he takes another drink. “Did all of y’all decide to just ignore it all and hope it’d never get to this point?”

“The Junker’s Tower wasn’t the main issue, it was the other creatures you’d spot,” Moira continues as she leans on the bar. “It’s as if someone came in and opened a portal up to Hell right beneath us. People missing for no reason, bodies drained of all blood out on the street, mutilated corpses found in their homes… we all knew what was going on. Most of them left, some of us refused to give up our home, and others came in to help us as if we’re a charity case here.” She lets out a deep breath. “Quite frankly, we should have all left, but our pride chained us to this former glory of a town. Now the king worries of the horrors of our town getting worse and spreading, so he keeps that advisor on the job of fixing it.”

“It was only a few years ago that the Capital moved, but in the course of a few months, you’ve lost all that would have told you so,” you say as you look down the now empty glass.

“And everyone who comes to fix it either goes missing or flees from what they’ve seen,” Moira says exasperated. “An interesting case for any hunter.”

“Well, that’s why we’re here for sure, ma’am,” Jesse interjects as he stands. “If you could while we’re out, inform this Satya of our arrival and if we can stay here, we’d appreciate it.”

That smirk returns as Moira answers, “Be happy to. Don’t worry about the drinks, if Lindholm is going to be covering your expenses, I’ll send her your tab.”

You nod to her as you and Jesse head out. You can still feel her cold stare as you both walk out of the bar and out the hotel. It’s honestly so conflicting; her cold judging stare did not match her helping hand earlier.

So, now the task of finding the clinic was much easier but now unsettling. The tower was easy to spot, but knowing the truth of what’s out there at night made the way there actually more of a search. You’re demon hunters; obviously your first instinct is going to be to investigate instead of run away. Oddly enough, when the evening finally ended and the night finally came, light in the tower’s windows suddenly flickered on. Definitely proves it wasn’t a rumor, but it definitely adds to the mystery of what’s going on in that tower.

Thoughts of the tower had to end soon as you both approached the clinic. The abandoned homes spotted on the way into town looked better than this, the signs outside the clinic broken and barely attached to the building. The windows were smashed in as if someone was trying to loot the place or as if they were attacked. Maybe it was the tower since quite a few of the abandoned shops and houses looked like this. One thing that did stand out was standing just outside the clinic was, finally, another living being. She’s smaller but muscular, her long amber hair definitely a standout feature as it shines from the light from the tower.

She clearly sees you, but she makes no attempt to walk closer as you approach, staring holes into you and your partner. Not even a word, so it’s up to you to break the ice as you speak, “I take it you must be Lindholm from the calls?”

Finally, a smile from the woman as she answers, “Indeed. Brigitte Lindholm. And I’m glad you’re here.”

Jesse tips his hat to Brigitte, “Likewise.”

Brigitte moves forward to shake both of your hands as she begins, “Sorry for having you come all the way out here. I understand it would be easier to just meet you out in front of the town, but I figured it’d be best to bring you out to the most troubling part of the town.”

“We found an inn on our way in and she directed us here,” Jesse says, finally grabbing another cigar after the one lost to Moira. “Said somethin’ about the tower being just one of the troubles.”

Brigitte takes a deep breath as she explains, “Just one of the troubles is correct. Unfortunately for the past few months this town has been plagued by what seems to be several horrors. The Junker’s Tower is just one of the unexplained phenomena that’s existed long before it got this bad. I’m sure Moira already explained what terrible things people have found in this town. The issue is the Junker’s Tower has existed long before the town became Hell on earth.”

“So you think the tower is actually unrelated?” you say as you cross your arms.

“Not completely, but I don’t think it’s the major cause,” Brigitte continues as she pulls out a few sheets of loose paper from a notebook at her side. “The hunter I hired quit after just a week, saying what he found was too much and that he valued his life over ours… before he quit at least, I was able to swipe these out of his own notebook. I wasn’t letting go any information.”

“Makes sense,” Jesse says as he takes the papers from her and looks over them with you. “Looks like he was able to get a few good details though. Looks like he mainly saw vampires, reports of odd machinery, and… ‘a woman with the face of an angel but held the kiss of death’? Any vaguer than this and we’d be looking for the void!”

“Believe me, that’s the one part that still gets me,” Brigitte lets out a sigh. “It’s such an odd description, so it’s hard to really take to the streets and find someone who could fit that description. He was at least able to get reports of what he saw, that’s what I was happy to see.”

“Speaking of the streets,” you interject, looking up from the papers you were handed. “Moira mentioned that no one goes out any time past daytime.”

“It’s definitely too dangerous for anyone to go out past that time. Most of them have relocated closer to the inn and shops to stay grouped up. It’s the only real defense they can have in these times, a strong community.” Brigitte turns from you to face the tower. “In times where you don’t know what’s going on, but you don’t want to leave, what else is there?”

It really is a tragedy in a way. Once a proud town that could boast its wealth and community now resembles a ghost town, and the people spend most of the day hiding indoors. The only help that comes from the king is in the form of an advisor who barely stays in the town and a few bystanders. The cause of it all has yet to be addressed, and it’s gone on for so long yet no one knows what the cause even is.

“Well we should be able to find the cause of your trouble,” Jesse says as he hands you the loose papers to put in your own notebook. “Can’t do it for free though, of course.”

Brigitte turns back around to you both, “Of course. The town nor you will be paying for your stay here, as long as you find the issue and help eliminate it.” A big promise. You knew they were desperate at this point for help. She continues, “We’re not expecting you to bring this town back to it’s former glory. We just want our people safe.”

“You’ve got it, ma’am,” you respond with a smile. You and Jesse both knew this would be no easy task from the moment you were contacted last week for this job, but it would definitely be a job. You’re both not people of empty promises. You both put your best foot forward to help people and towns suffering from the supernatural. This town would be no different.

Brigitte’s smile returns as she thanks you, “I’m hoping for the best here. There’s a deliverywoman who comes between the town and capital at least once a week. I’ll send all the money to pay for your stay here and any other necessities with her. You have no boundaries as long as the people aren’t hurt, just please… help them here.”

“Hard to refuse such a polite request here,” Jesse responds. “Don’t worry, my partner and I’ll put your worries to rest.”

It truly became night as you parted ways with Brigitte. She was brave in a sense for traveling to the town and staying until dark near the tower despite the knowledge at hand. If anything, the nighttime was actually perfect, as you and Jesse could actually see for yourselves if anything lurked at night. Could the two of you really find any of these vampires or machines mentioned in the previous hunter’s sightings this quickly? Only one way to find out.

On the way back to the inn, you both had an idea, a simple one that could hopefully give you more information firsthand: a trap. It’s a sigil you two have done time and time before, simple yet effective, known to trap any creature from Hell within it once they walk into it. If vampires really are lurking, one could easily walk in, especially if one was following you currently even. Plus, if it was on the path to a more populated area, all the more chances to catch one.

Set up was easy. You were always the one to carry a pouch with you in these sort of on the spot ideas, and with a little paint on the path, you had your trap. Whether or not it’d work would show soon.

“Probably shouldn’t wait around a trap to see who will come,” Jesse says as you both observe the sigil on the path.

You playfully punch his arms and he smiles as you respond, “I know that. It’s not like we haven’t done this several times before.” You place the now closed paint back in the punch. “Let’s head back to the inn. If Satya’s there now like Moira was saying earlier, we still need to talk to her about actually staying.”

“What, y’think she’d just turn us away at her desk after all of this?”

Well, she easily could’ve.

Once you arrived back at the inn, Moira wasn’t the only one there. Instead, there was someone new, another woman not quite as tall, but somehow much more demanding in presence. Her eyes are like daggers, easily piercing into both of you from the moment you open the door. Jesse lets out a nervous laugh and speaks despite her judgmental glare, “Y’must be Satya, ma’am. Name’s McCree, this is my partner, we’re here to—”

“I know who you are,” the woman believed to be Satya spoke, her voice almost venomous. “I’ve already heard from Moira. I’ve also heard how you were smoking in my bar earlier despite the signs, and here you are, back again, with another cigar inside.”

Jesse looks embarrassed now, sheepishly pulling the almost finished cigar away from his lips. You interject nervously, “H-he forgot about the no smoking rule, honestly! Miss Satya, we wanted to ask about staying here while working on what’s happening in the town, if you don’t mind. Even Brigitte mentioned paying for our stay here.”

“I’ve heard, yes,” Satya says almost immediately. “I’m going to level with you: I have absolutely no confidence in either of you, I don’t believe you’ll be able to help us in any form, and I think you’ll quit within a week if you don’t die by then. I’ll help thanks to Lindholm, but you will adhere to the rules of my inn, or you’ll find somewhere else. That includes no smoking, watch your step, and keep it clean. Got it?”

You and Jesse are dumbfounded for a moment before you answer, “Yes ma’am.”

Satya’s glare doesn’t let up as she smiles and lets out a chuckle, “Good. Glad we’re on the same page, especially considering my inn is the only one left open. For your stay, I will require you to fill out the necessary paperwork—”

Jesse interrupts, “Surely we’re the only guests here? Is that really a requirement—”

“It’s always a requirement whether there’s one or a hundred guests at my inn,” Satya interrupts him herself with a cold expression, and that was the end of that. Looks like the two of you would need to be careful to avoid stepping on her toes.

Jesse tips his hat to her nervously as he speaks, “My apologies, ma’am. What’d we need to go over?”

Her smile returns as she pulls out a folder from behind the desk, “It’s simple. Just the terms of your stay need to be detailed and that you agree. I won’t complain about actually having guests in this town wanting to stay at my inn, but I still need your agreement to my rules. Also, don’t leave your bags outside your room like earlier. Keep it tidy.”

You look at Jesse as he reads over the papers Satya has handed him and see his nervous smile. It’s honestly a hell of a situation, but damn, if this moment was funny. You really can’t help but crack a smile of your own. As he combs through the papers, placing his signature where needed, you speak up, “So you think something’s fallen into that trap yet?”

Jesse lets out a laugh as you ask and responds, “Darlin’ it hasn’t even been an hour. Gettin’ a little impatient?”

Okay, yes, maybe you were a little impatient. The pressure was the cause, you really couldn’t sit still with the weight of the town on your shoulders. If anything, you’re dying for an actual lead and maybe this could help. Maybe there will be nothing in the sigil and you’d have to start over tomorrow by just questioning the town. Whatever there was, you had to get started, had to learn something.

“Blame it on the mystery of the town,” you tell Jesse as he kind of laughs at your inability to sit still. He flips through the remaining papers as he speaks, “You’re free to really check if you want, but you know a trap ain’t gonna work if you check it too often.”

“I’m not gonna check too often, I just… want to get started,” you trail off, trying not to seem eager, but you couldn’t help what you were. It’s hard to rest with the biggest mystery you’ve been handed since you started as a hunter, hard to ignore the desire to learn and help.

Jesse’s eyes are now on you as he ruffles your hair a bit and tells you, “Aw c’mon now, don’t make that face.” Wait, what face were you making? “I don’t mean to tease you too much, I know you know what it means to be a hunter.”

That you didn’t doubt. Your partnership was one based on mutual respect. What one lacked, the other made up for. Jesse’s quick thinking and amazing combat skills matched with your smarts and knowledge of all things supernatural. It just worked.

“If you really wanna check, I won’t stop you,” he continues. “I’ll get out there and join you here in a few. Might be something else out there.”

You smile back at your partner before Satya speaks, reminding both of you where you stand and what needs to be done, “I take it you’ll be joining them after you finish moving everything up to your room and signing off my contract?”

The nervousness returns to Jesse’s smile as he answers, “Absolutely, ma’am!”

Jesse may not be the smartest man alive, but he’s not an idiot. He’ll be fine. You take this as your que to leave.

Where you placed the sigil was just a few minutes down the concrete road. It’s not a good idea to be impatient like this, you knew Jesse was right, but still there’s something that’s really nagging you to go back and check this soon. The light you grabbed was nothing more than a lantern with half the candle already gone, courtesy of another abandoned shop outside the inn. It wasn’t much thanks to the nighttime and now thick fog, but it was better than having nothing considering the street lights didn’t work. It really was a scene from a horror novel, but it’s not a scenario you haven’t been through before.

Well, until now.

As you approached your trap, shockingly enough, there was a creature in it standing idly, as if they were waiting for something. Or someone. And the closer you get, you realize this isn’t just any low level vampire like you would’ve expected.

You stop dead in your tracks and almost drop the lantern from what you see. The outfit this creature had was flashy, to say the least. You may have carried a gun at your side due to your profession, but he clearly had several blades and swords on him. The black and grey from his armor and hood combined with the flashes of red that decorated his belt, mask, and swords was an interesting pick, but you could tell he was dressed to enter a fight. The most chilling thing you see is actually the mask, white and red that stood out with the face of an oni, and the kicker was how the mask was shaped to make room for two bright large red horns.

This creature was a demon. And a being of his caliber has just fallen into your weak trap. You were either incredibly lucky or were about to experience a new level of Hell.

The demon notices your presence and turns his head slightly to you. “Ah,” he sounds cocky, like he’s not even worried about his situation. “You must be here to free me?”

Of course he’s not going to panic. He’s not someone weak. You knew that if you kept your distance there’d be nothing he could do to you. “Very brave of you to be making demands like that,” you speak. “I take it then you have something to do with this town?”

He chuckles. “You’re taking things a little too much at face value. A demon in your trap and you’re all ready to pin all the blame on him?” he says as he fully turns to face you.

“And I’m supposed to believe you being here despite us only laying this trap down a mere hour ago means you have nothing to do with this?” you ask, eyebrows raised.

You wish he wasn’t wearing a mask. You wanted to see his face, what kind of faces he was making, wanted to read it. He starts to pace within the circle of the sigil slowly. “You already know the victims of this town are missing their blood or ended up mutilated. Does that sound like anything I could do or even want to do, hunter?”

Even though you hated to admit it, you were right. Usually a demon’s victims involve missing people, usually from being dragged to Hell and torturing. While the mutilation of bodies could line up with torture, it’s very odd for it to happen in the victim’s home like described. You keep an eye on his movements as you ask, “Then why wouldn’t you be here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he responds. He stops his pace. “Entertainment.”

Twisted.

“There’s a lot you really don’t understand, hunter,” the demon speaks as he turns to face you once more, his eyes and true feelings hiding behind the mask. “It’s an endless game of cat and mouse here, the classic tale of the hero trying to be the savior at the end of it all. Why pay to see a show when I have a play that lasts me for months here?”

You scoff at his explanation as you move a little closer to him. You keep your gun close, even if it can’t kill him it can still hurt him if needed. “You expect me to believe you’re only here to get a few laughs at the misfortune?”

He laughs himself, “What can I say? This scene suits a creature like me.” He folds his arms and tilts his head to the side as he continued to face you. It felt as if he was staring holes into you, even though you couldn’t see anything of his face. “To be honest, however, I do want to see the play pick up its pace a little bit. It’s a little slow right now, watching so many previous hunters fail and quit. There’s a lot going on, so much of it right under your nose, and no one ever gets even close enough to unravel what’s happening. But I think you’ll figure it out.”

Something really feels off. There’s a sinking feeling in your stomach as you stop your approach to the demon, staring him down it what hopefully looks threatening and not uneasy. He continues, “I can even help you sometimes. A play’s no good with a stuck protagonist. Besides…”

Within a second and one quick motion, he’s at the edge of the trap, just close enough for the mask to be right in your face. “…maybe we can even be allies in this situation.”

The sudden contact blew you into panic mode. You knew the sigil wouldn’t stop his power, but how he moved still to the bare end of the trap so well and get so close to you really managed to catch you off guard. “Stay back!” you shout as he stays within your comfort zone, and in an attempt to back away, you manage to trip over your own two feet, and fall back.

Except you don’t fall back like expected. Instead, someone catches you, and it’s none other than the same demon you’ve been interrogating.

Your eyes are wide open. How did he manage to escape the trap? You’re frozen in shock for a moment in his arms, and then you’re brought back to your senses as he speaks, “You know, you’re kind of cute.”

You immediately move to stand and grab your gun, but by the time you’re up, he’s already moved behind you. As expected from a demon. When you turn around to point your gun at the demon, that’s when you see the scrape underneath your feet in the paint of the trap. Was that from your boot when you fell? Were you really that close, and was that the opportunity that he was waiting for?

He laughed as he raised his hands halfway in the air, like some sort of joke, as if he didn’t believe you could hurt him. “You’re still gutsy, I like that,” he says, and you can tell he’s smiling under that mask. “I really hope you find out the truth of this town, I really do.” He then shrugs as his attention seems to shift for a moment. “But I think our time is running short.”

And he’d turn out to be right as you hear none other than Jesse’s voice calling your name. You want to turn around to face your partner, who had to be running right towards you, but you couldn’t afford to lose focus, not again. You’re in a standoff with this demon, and you’re not letting him out of your sights. “What, you wanna act like friends but won’t even give me a name?” you ask as you stare him down.

Just a second feels like an hour as the demon finally speaks, “Genji.”

Right after that name, you can hear Jesse shout, “Get down!” Wait, was he going to shoot!?

You do as instructed and duck just before you hear the ringing of a revolver. After your ears stop ringing, you finally look up, and the demon, now learned to be Genji, was completely out of sight.

You turn around to face Jesse, who looks completely shocked, wide eyes staring at wearing he just shot ahead. You finally stand, and Jesse now stares at you, completely dumbfounded at the situation. Adding Genji into the pot only made things more complicated, as if you didn’t already have vampires, a man in a tower, and a so called angel of death to look out for.

Jesse was right earlier. This job might just last you both a while after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6k of straight world building and scene setting. go me
> 
> just to clarify, while this fic is inspired by the halloween event, it's not gonna be the exact word for word same. i have a lot of different changes in mind, but i wont say what, i wanna surprise everyone.
> 
> edit: im a dumbass and forgot to mark this as a chapter instead of one full fic oh my god


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i went ahead and changed the title of this story to something a little more... fitting. i wanted to highlight in the title that the main plot point here is the genji romance here.

Silence. Deafening silence.

You and Jesse sat on the opposing beds in the inn at the room. The encounter with Genji had left you both reeling. Usually you two were chatterboxes, teasing each other back and forth and having fun, but the two of you couldn’t even spare a word to Satya since you both returned. Instead you both returned to your room and sat down on the beds, unable to even wrap your head around what happened.

This wasn’t your first encounter with a demon, but after seeing him on top of what you already knew, it might as well be. The reality of your situation really started to sink in.

Jesse takes a deep breath. “It’s been quite a few minutes,” he starts. You two are staring at the ground, not even making eye contact. “Why don’t we go over what happened?

It takes you a moment before you’re even able to think of an answer. After a minute of trying to organize your thoughts in your head, you finally speak up, “That demon… he said his name was Genji. He said he was only here as a spectator… I don’t know how true that is, but that’s what he said.”

You really can’t look at Jesse as you clutch the bedsheets at your sides as you continue, “I tried to really interrogate him, but I messed up… I forgot he could still move at full speed within the trap, and I didn’t realize I was at the edge. I ended up scraping the paint in an attempt to get away when he got too close for comfort…”

Jesse waits a moment to make sure you’ve finished talking before he replies, “So he said he had no part in any of this… just here to watch. Damn, so he was treatin’ the whole thing like the latest new book or play?”

You nod. “He was very… arrogant about it as well. Almost as if he was disappointed that I thought he could even be behind it,” you continue. “Even when I first approached him, his first response was that he knew I was going to be the one to free him.”

The encounter really set you on edge. You knew how to handle a demon, it’s not like you and your partner haven’t been behind the end of several demons before, but with just a few words he managed to get under your skin and throw you off. To top it off, what he said still stuck in your mind, how he said you could consider him an ally. The words still rang clear, and you knew it would be a set up in the future, but it still just made you confused.

You can’t stop the words from falling out of your mouth, “I’m sorry, Jesse. It was an easy task to really interrogate him and actually try and get something out of him, but I managed to fuck it up and have him freed within the hour—”

“Oh darlin’, you can’t be thinking like that,” Jesse cuts you off before you can even finish your poor explanation. You can feel his gaze now on you, but you can’t bear to look up. “I know it ended up feeling botched and that run in with the demon’s left us feelin’ down, but we can’t be lookin’ at it like that. Gotta focus on the positives for now, right?”

You finally start to look up, and you see Jesse’s warm smile across from you. He continues, “Y’know we’ve only been here for a few hours, and we’ve already learned so much. Hell, we learned somethin’ no one else’s seemed to have noticed and that’s the demon! We’re startin’ somewhere.”

His words do start to ease the tension. You finally let out that deep breath it feels like you’ve been holding for an hour as you speak, “Tomorrow, did you want to try and talk to the townspeople? If they’re only hiding out like Brigitte said, then that means that there’s more to talk to.”

Jesse’s face brightens up at your suggestion, “Yeah, yeah, that’s the right idea!” He jumps up to sit beside you and pulls you into a hug with one arm. “Besides, we’ve only gotten testimonials from two people, and Satya hasn’t even told us what she’s seen yet! There’s a lot more to figure out.”

You start to sport your own smile as you reply, “We’ll have to wake up early tomorrow then. We didn’t ask any of them about what the day was like here, so we’ll just have to see it all happen ourselves.”

“Exactly!” Jesse says as he stands and turns to face you. “So don’t focus too much about the demon. Think of him as a hint. We already knew this would be a tough mission the moment we accepted, so no feelin’ down over a misstep. Got it?”

You nod, “Got it.”

With that, Jesse walks to the bathroom of the room, shuts the door, and you flop down on your bed, staring up at the ceiling. You and Jesse were pretty open with each other, but for some reason, telling him about what Genji said to you was stuck in your throat. Being attacked by demons was one thing. Having a demon flirt with you and say you could be allies? That was definitely something new. It wasn’t an odd characteristic for demons to be smooth talkers, but this certainly wasn’t something you were expecting. You could still here it perfectly in your head. It felt as if he was mocking you, like a kick when you were already down.

You suddenly got up, kicked your boots to the side of the bed and took off your jacket and belts and placed them on the nightstand beside you, and threw yourself underneath the sheets of your bed. Today felt like a weight on your heart, and you wanted nothing more than to hurry up, close your eyes, and lose yourself to sleep.

You’re pretty sure Jesse comes back into the room, gets undressed and ready for bed, and falls asleep way faster before you can actually sleep yourself.

The next morning, before the two of you can even wake up on your own, you’re awoken by loud yelling from what seems to be coming downstairs, more than likely the inn lobby. You groan at the sudden awakening as Jesse sits up from his own bed. The windows of your room were boarded, much like the rest of the inn, so it was hard to see what it really looked like outside, but you could see sunlight seeping through the boards, signaling morning. You move to turn on the lamp at the bedside table between the two beds as Jesse opens the door to the inn room to hear more of what woke you up.

“Sounds like Satya’s havin’ a squabble,” Jesse says as he yawns.

You move to sit up in bed but end up just resting on your elbows, “This early?”

“Think we should wait before headin’ out?” he asks as he shuts the door, muffling the sound of the arguing some.

You’re quick to answer as you try to get out of bed, “Probably not. We need to learn as much about the town that we can while it’s daylight.”

You take a look at the clock on the wall. About 9:30. You finally stand as you grab your bag left at your bedside, pulling out new clothes for the day. Probably not your finest idea to just sleep in last night’s clothes, but after the night you were having, it’s not like you had the energy to do anything else. Jesse follows suit, pulling his weapons together and reaching for a new shirt. The two of you didn’t really have any issues changing or getting ready in front of each other; over the years you found it cheaper to get one inn room instead of two, and the awkward feeling faded away after that.

With both of you ready, you open the door to embrace the yelling of Satya and someone unidentified. As you walk down the stairs a level to reach the lobby, you see the strangest image. Satya, arms folded as she listens to a man about her size with dreads explain something, both of them looking very irritated. Neither of them look as irritated as Moira, who’s leaning on the front desk beside Satya, her nails clacking away as she strums her fingers. Probably not a good idea to get involved. You both walk to the front door quietly, trying not to stare as you leave.

The town you see now looks completely different. It’s not like the town has suddenly come back, but there’s quite a few people outside now to your surprise. People keep going in and out of buildings, some of them look to be buying food from merchants, and there were even people just outside socializing, enjoying the sun and the lack of fog for once. There was, however, a couple of odd looks thrown at you and Jesse as you stood outside the inn door. They weren’t really hostile, but they didn’t feel friendly either.

“Gotta start somewhere…” Jesse says to you as he approaches a man and a woman that are checking inside some of the houses. “Excuse us, folks.”

You catch up with Jesse as the woman stares at him for a second before she responds, “You’re a new face. Are you a new helper here for the town?”

He tips his hat to the both of them before answering, “Guess you can say that. Been hired by Miss Lindholm to take care of a problem here.”

You introduce yourself alongside Jesse to the two. The woman’s face lights up with a smile as she grabs Jesse’s hand to shake it. “So you’re the new hunters here to help! I could tell from the weapons and the attire you weren’t a usual pair to find, but that explanation is better than I could’ve ever hoped!” She moves to shake your hand now. “The name’s Lena. I’ve been helping conduct a sort of census if you will, making sure everyone’s okay and alive, checking up on homes, all that stuff.”

Her attention ships to the man that’s been left out of the conversation so far. You could tell he was no ordinary man due to the fact that he sported bright orange and yellow robes and what looked like religious symbols. “Oh, excuse me, this man is Zenyatta. He came here really to help us in this troubling time, and his wisdom is what led to us really putting together a support group.”

“Please, give yourselves more credit,” the man known as Zenyatta spoke finally. “I was only a guiding hand to help is all.”

“You’re not a local from this town, are you Zenyatta?” you question as you pull your notebook from your bag.

He shakes his head. “That I’m not. I’m from a country actually much farther from here. I work with a religious order called the Shambali. We heard of the town’s misfortune and only wished to lend a helping hand through wisdom and guidance. We originally planned to help them relocate to somewhere safer, but…”

“Not a lot of people really enjoyed that idea, huh?” Jesse guesses and Zenyatta nods.

“It’s not within us to force people to do what they don’t want to do,” Zenyatta continues. “So, I revised the plan, and decided that if the capital was invested in helping get rid of the cause, then I would help the people with their community.”

“It’s really paid off as well,” Lena adds on. “It helps us keep ourselves in check and make sure we’re doing what it takes to survive.”

“I hate to bother you about it if you’re busy, but we actually wanted to get more in depth about what you’ve seen,” you continue, notepad open and ready to write. “We really wanted to know about what the town was like around the clock, if you’ve seen anything unusual, really anything that you could tell us would be helpful.”

Zenyatta turns to Lena, “I’ll help them for now. I know you still have check ins to perform.”

Lena smiles and nods to him before turning back to the both of you and speaking, “If you’ll excuse me then.” And with that, she’s off.

To be honest, you’d rather speak to Lena if she was the local one, but you couldn’t be too picky, and you wouldn’t turn away new information. Zenyatta starts, “The routine of this town is very careful. Before I came here, I heard about the multiple killings here. One of the first people I spoke to here was Lena, and she confided in me her desire to help the town stay safe. I noticed right away that the murders alongside the people abandoning the town caused the sense of community to crumble. The leaders of this town were dead or left. It was a town in chaos before anything else. I pushed for the people to relocate, but as you know, they rejected the idea, wanting to protect the town they held on to.

“I’m glad that I ran into Lena, because she’s a natural leader for this town. She really was able to construct a way to help this town. She rallied everyone together and pushed for her plan, and it was quite effective. While the threat still looms over us, the death toll has slowed, and the desire to the town fixed was strengthened.”

“So what was the plan?” Jesse asks.

Zenyatta’s quick to answer, “Set curfews, perform check ins, and outsource supplies. It’s an early curfew that starts once the fog of the evening sets in, but preventing people from going out too late is a must when dark forces are at work. The check ins every morning also accounts for who’s here, who’s injured, who’s left, and who’s dead. It lets us set our priorities.”

You’re still writing as you ask, “What do you mean by outsourcing supplies? Are people coming and leaving the town for food and other necessities?”

“That’s exactly it, yes,” Zenyatta continues as he nods. His eyes look over to the inn, “I’m sure you’ve met Lucio already as he was… speaking with Satya earlier.”

You look up to see Jesse hiding a sour face behind his hat, thinking about that argument from earlier. He speaks, “So he’s one of the people gettin’ said supplies?”

“Yes, one of the few. He’s actually a very kind person, but he and Satya never really see eye to eye,” Zenyatta says as he tries to smile.

“Another question then,” you decide to go ahead and move to something else. “I know you’re not local here, Zenyatta, but since coming to the town, is there anything you’ve seen that’s out of the ordinary?”

Zenyatta looks down for a moment, which you and Jesse note as a yes. He then talks but in a quieter voice, “It’s something I’m ashamed to admit, really. I’ve been told several times that the tower is off limits, but I heard that someone was in trouble near there. Maybe it was misinformation, because when I went there that evening, I didn’t see anyone except a lanky man mumbling to himself. When I looked closer, he was… covered in dried blood.”

That catches your attention. “Dried blood specifically?” you ask.

“It was almost the color of rust,” Zenyatta recalls. “It looked like he hadn’t bathed in weeks, months even…”

Zenyatta falls silent for a moment, and you and Jesse look concerned before he continues, “I like to think I am a strong man, the faith I hold and beliefs with the Shambali really help me become a better person and hold ideals that help me guide others, but for once in my life since I joined this group, I felt frozen…”

“Any regular man would’ve been shakin’ at that sight, no matter the faith,” Jesse says in consolation. “Was there any deaths recently around that time that you can recall?”

“That I can’t recall, no,” Zenyatta answers, fully looking up at the both of you now. “Lena was just establishing a system in place, so there was a lot still unaccounted for.”

“Makes sense,” you respond as you finish taking notes on Zenyatta’s account, speaking in a hushed tone so you wouldn’t alarm anyone near. “It was dried blood. It would make more sense if it was from a killing weeks ago.”

“For someone who’s been around for years, this guy’s been a good talk of the town the past few months,” Jesse comments. “Anything else you recall seein’?”

“Out of the ordinary, no,” Zenyatta says as he takes Jesse’s hand into his. “You both seem like fine people, and while I’m no expert in this field, I’ll help in whatever way I can.”

He gives a slight bow to the both of you as he takes his leave and rejoins Lena, still moving to see the results from the night. You turn to Jesse to say, “Sounds like we should really focus on this man from the tower. This is the first we’ve heard anything about him outside being a lanky shut-in.”

“Wanna split up then ask around some more?” Jesse suggests, hand ruffling his hair. “Might be able to see if anyone else has seen anything else about this creep.”

That worked for you. You split from your partner and moved to the farther end of Aldersbrunn, trying to see who would be open to talk to you. You received a few sour looks as you approached people. It made sense, after so many hunters came and failed it was only natural that they’d be skeptical of you at first. Some people answered your questions with little care, as if they had better things to do. Really none of them acknowledged your questions about the man in the tower, some saying they’ve never gone that far into town and have no plans to. One man even yelled at you, asking you to prove yourself before he even helped you.

Well, how were you supposed to prove yourself with no information to go off of?

Just as you were about to give up and head back to the inn, you heard a young lady call out to you, “Excuse me! Sir!”

You turn around to face who called out, seeing her chopped off hair and smudges of oil and dirt on her clothes and even her face around her goggles. “You’re asking about the tower, right?”

Finally! Someone with a little energy. You instantly open up your notebook as you respond, “Absolutely! Anything you can tell me? We heard about a strange man who was really a shut-in over there.”

She clasps her hands together as she answers, “Never saw the man everyone talked about, but when I was younger we used to live closer to the tower. It was only about a few months ago my family and I relocated to this side of the town once we heard about this weirdo and the multiple deaths, but something always bothered me about how we left, so one day I snuck out and headed to where our old shop used to me.”

“Shop? Not your previous home?” you asked, kind of puzzled.

“Yeah, our old mechanics shop. That place was really like a second home to us. My family’s known to fix old machines around town, and you know what they say: love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life,” she explains with a smile as she rubs her nose with her gloved hand, leaving some of the oil on face. “We relocated in a rush so some of our parts were still left over there, so I decided to go over there and grab them. Except when I got over there, they were all gone. The place was cleaned out.”

That’s strange. You doubted there would any other mechanics in town that would need the parts this lady’s family would have. “Any ideas who would take all those parts, Miss…”

“Hana,” she interjects to give her name before continuing, “And no, not really, we’re the only family in town with a shop like this. Plus, no one ever goes over to that side of town anyways. The only people even brave enough to walk over there now are the newcomers. After I ventured over the one time, I was reprimanded by my dad for going out that far, so I never really tried going out there again, but I always wondered who really stole the parts from our shop.” She then moves closer to you to whisper into your ear so the people nearby can’t hear, “To be honest, I always heard there were these really weird robot-like creatures over there as well. Think that weirdo stole our parts to make them?”

This wasn’t the first time you’ve heard of weird machines being seen around the tower alongside the man in the tower. Hana then speaks normally as she waves her hands, “Of course it’s all just my speculation! I don’t want to spread rumors.”

“Actually, it’s worth looking into,” you say to her as you write down her testimonial. “Thank you, Hana, you’ve actually been more help than you think.”

Her face lights up with a smile. She responds to you, “Good luck out there, then! Tell me if you find out the truth with my information at least.”

You give her a nod as you shut your notebook, and with that she runs back to what appears to be her family’s new shop. Time to head back to Jesse.

As you head back into the center of town, you see Jesse leaning up against the wall of a streetlamp, cigar in one hand as he talked with the young man from the inn earlier. You approached your partner to hear bits of the young man speaking, “…I still focus on music, but I did want to talk a proactive role in helping the people here.” He notices you as Jesse’s partner and gives you a wave and a hello.

“Lucio, correct?” you ask, trying to get introductions out of the way.

“Indeed!” Lucio answers. “You two are staying at Satya’s inn, right?” He notices the sour face you make as you remember that awkward morning and he gives a laugh. “I’m sorry about that. I really try not to get into it with her, but we really don’t get along at all. I can tell she’s a good person who cares, but in the end, we really have our own way of going about things.”

“Well, that aside,” Jesse starts. “I really wanted to ask if you knew anything about the tower here. Have you ever gone towards it, or seen anything weird around there?”

He folds his arms and looks down as he answers, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued by what was over there, but I’m afraid I don’t have the courage to go over that way. I really want to know, but every time I try and ask someone around here, they’re pretty vague about it or they don’t even acknowledge what I’m saying.”

It aligns with your experiences earlier, that’s for sure. It felt like everyone was really brushing off this tower and the mystery man inside it, but from what you’ve put together so far, he sounds pretty major. Lucio continues in a hushed tone, “If anything, I think the people know something, but don’t want to say it. They know things that could actually put together some serious clues, but no one wants to cause even more of a scene than the town’s already in.”

What he says is only matched by your encounter with Hana and Zenyatta. Both had actually very interesting clues, but kept silent around the others except you. Do they want things solved but only behind the curtains by a hunter?

Jesse lets out a sigh, “Thank you for the information regardless. We gotta start somewhere if we’re gonna help this town.”

Lucio looks up and lets out a nervous laugh as he responds, “Sorry I don’t have any more for you. I’m in and out of the town every week delivering food and other rations for the town, so if you need anything during your stay, don’t hesitate to ask.”

You return the smile as wave as he takes his leave. Jesse takes a long drag of his cigar before speaking, “I’ve gotten nothin’ but people doing their best to ignore me.”

“Well, at least I got one follow up,” you answer as you lean against him. You begin speaking quieter, “Remember how the notes of the previous hunter on the job mentioned seeing really odd machines? Turns out there used to be an old repair shop where the family behind it left in a hurry whenever the outbreak of deaths started. Whenever the daughter of the family returned to the shop later on to grab parts that were originally left behind, the place was completely cleaned out.”

“You think the man in the tower grabbed all the parts and used them to help make more machines?” Jesse responds in the same hushed tone.

“Not just me, but when I spoke to the daughter, she seemed to think so as well,” you answer. “I think we need to investigate this tower first and foremost.”

“We’ll need to be careful,” he says as he quits leaning against the lamp and stands, pushing you over to stand as well. “We don’t know what this guy is capable of, nor do we know his machines do. We don’t even know if he’s human.”

“Yeah, but something’s not right about it. Everyone acknowledges him as a horror in the town but no one really cares about him. They’re concerned about the hidden threat,” you respond.

Jesse is quick to follow up, “The hidden threat might really be under their noses the whole time.”

Both of you knew what had to be done next. You make your way to the tower.

You had a plan of attack already thought out: a stakeout. There were reports of him coming out at night, and whether he came out tonight or not, you were determined to learn something. The idea was simple, see if he comes out tonight or not, obverse, put sigils on any visible exits while he appears to be inside, and see how long it takes for him to come out, if it’s even possible. It might take a while to really view the results, but this really is the best lead you have so far.

Well, best lead outside of Genji.

You both look around the surroundings of the tower. No lights showed to be on, but it was hard to really see with daylight. Once the evening came it would definitely be easier to see. There were only two visible exits to the tower, but multiple windows, some covered in bars. The bricks were covered in moss and the grass around it was long. On the outside it truly did resemble an abandoned tower, much like the other parts of the former capital like the castle. It was really hard that something like it could contain such a horrible secret. There had to be an answer for this town in there somewhere.

“So we’ll set the traps the day after we see him outside and see if he’ll even be able to come out,” Jesse says, going over the plan with you as you both make your way back to the in.

“It’s really hard not to do something more decisive, but we don’t know anything else to do anything else,” you respond, biting your lip. “We need something more concrete.”

“Hey, patience,” he gets in front of you and stops you, hands on your arms. “I know you’re wanting to make up for last night and find us something good to go on, but we still have to be patient. I already said this is gonna take us awhile, so let it.”

He really knew you in and out, huh. You take a deep breath before saying, “Okay. I’ll be patient.”

He smiles at you and roughs up your hair. “Don’t panic. If you’re feeling pressure, just know we were already told this could take a while. It’s been a day and even if it’s small, we’ve already made some progress.”

You both continue your walk back to the inn for supplies as you sit on Jesse’s words. It was true, yesterday’s events were still heavy on your mind, and the desire to really learn more and solve the crisis at hand burned. There were so many things to uncover on top of the tower, such as the vampires and the mysterious woman with the kiss of death.

One thing at a time, you told yourself. First, discover the truth of the tower.

When you returned to the inn, you saw no one at the front desk. You both peeked your head into the bar to see Moira polishing glasses and oddly enough, Satya sitting at it with a glass of wine in hand. “Now this is a sight,” Jesse comments as he sees the two of them.

Satya sighs, not even looking at the two of you, “Delivery day is one of the hardest days sometimes.”

Moira, looking squarely at Satya with a scowl, responds, “It’s only difficult when it’s Lucio. You two really can’t put aside your difference for just a few minutes, can you?”

Satya takes another sip of the wine. She’s silent for a moment as she stares at her glass, hand resting in her palm, before she answers, “I don’t doubt that he’s helpful, and he’s doing a lot to help, but we’re like oil and water. I prefer structure and strictness, and he’s anything but. We end up arguing always, and I’d like to think both of us try not to, but…”

“In any case, we’ll try to work on it the next time he’s here,” Moira continues for her. “Let’s not think of it as unavoidable.”

“On another topic,” you squeeze your way into the conversation. “Since it has been delivery day, you guys wouldn’t happen to have any food that’s good to take with us over the night, would you?”

“Well, most of what we receive aren’t perishables, so more than likely,” Moira speaks, finally looking at the two of you. “What, having the meals provided through us aren’t enough?”

“Not that,” you answer as you now fully stand in the doorway to the bar. “Planning a stakeout to observe the town. Staying up all night requires a lot of energy.”

Satya sets down her wine glass and stands to look at you. “That’s fine, but only so much,” she says, hand resting on the bar. “We’re still charging Lindholm for your stay here, but supplies wise we only above the minimum and that might not change until next delivery unless she has something else planned.”

“Understandable, ma’am,” Jesse thanks her with a nod.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Satya answers and her stare goes cold. “I still don’t trust you two just yet. I’m doing this out of courtesy and the knowledge that I’ll be paid for what you take.”

Both of you stiffen up at her words. She definitely is strict as she said earlier. Moira has a coy smile as she continues polishing glasses, as if she knew the outcome of the situation and it played out exactly according to plan once you asked. Satya leaves to grab what you asked, and both of you turn up to your room for a brief moment to recollect yourselves.

Sitting in the inn room made you anxious to get started. You knew you needed to be patient and not try to rush into it, but the events still weighed on you. What weighed on you the most was Genji. If it was catching him to be the main culprit then maybe you wouldn’t be this restless over it, but instead he was very passive, saying he had nothing to do with the town and was just here for a good show. To top it all off, the idea of being allies…what a joke.

Jesse notices your silence and asks, “Hey, you feelin’ alright?”

You snap your head to look at him, “Yeah, fine. Why?”

“Just looked a little anxious still,” he answers as he equips his crossbow on his back. “Don’t worry, we’re workin’ on it.”

“I know…” you say as you stand. You haven’t told him about how Genji told you he wanted to be allies. It felt awkward to say the least, but it wasn’t something you could just bring up. It’s not something you’ve really come across before.

“It’s almost evening, so we’ll be able to start here soon,” he tells you with a smile. “Get set up, wait for night, and find out what we can see of that man.”

Jesse really does try to ease your mind like this when he notices your anxiety, and you can’t help but smile every time as his care. “It’ll be a long night, but it’ll be worth it in the end,” you respond, putting on the holster for your gun. You decide to go ahead and shove down the thoughts of the topic again. You’ll find a way to bring it up eventually.

Evening hits and the sun starts to set as the two of you go downstairs to the inn lobby, grab the food put together by Satya for you, and make your way out to the tower. The town once again looks like a ghost town; there’s no one outside, no lights could be seen outside the setting sun, and everything felt empty. It had the same uneasy feeling you both felt when you first entered the town yesterday, the feeling of a ghost town.

The two of you finally reach your spot for the stakeout: atop the castle wall. It was the best spot to really see it all while also staying hidden from anything you found that was dangerous. You brought everything the two of you thought you’d need, notebook to document what you saw, food, water, pair of binoculars, and weapons in case anything went south. The biggest struggle for a stakeout for you two was definitely the ability to stay awake and focused when everything sat around you was so idle, but it’s still worth the struggle.

Night still had yet to sit in, but you and Jesse had made your spot here on top of the wall. The waiting game began now. You leaned against the railings, looking down at the scene beneath you as Jesse sits, smoking a cigar despite you reminding him that it’s a stakeout. It’s quiet between the two of you as wait, until Jesse speaks up, “I know you’re probably not trying to think about it too much, but something’s still bothering me about yesterday.”

Well, at least you know you’re not alone on that one. You decide to push the subject, “Outside what happened, what’s bothering you about it?”

“You said that demon called himself a spectator,” he answers. “But I can’t help but think that’s not the case. Whether he’s the one behind it all or not is up in the air, but I can’t just take his word that he’s just an audience member.”

“I wouldn’t put the twisted nature past a demon, but at the same time, I have nothing to counter what he said,” you respond, fully resting against the railing of the wall.

“Was there anything else he said?” he asks, and this really could be the time to tell your partner the truth. You really should be honest with him over Genji’s claims of an alliance, but even though it seemed minor or like a joke, it was really hard to actually tell him that for once a creature you hunted wanted to help you.

But instead you bite down that fact. “Not really,” you lie.

“Hm…” Jesse thinks as he rests his back against the railing. He wasn’t a fool, you knew that, but for now the words seem stuck in your throat. You’d have to make a note to apologize to him once you find a way to actually speak up.

Then it strikes night and it happens. The light in the top window turns on in the tower, and the stakeout really goes underway. The air feels heavy now as you both stay silent, barely peeking out over the stone railing on top of the walls so the light doesn’t reveal the two of you. It was a little hard to see, but at least you could see two of the exits to the tower, so you could tell if the man walked out any time tonight. The waiting game truly began now.

You try to avoid looking at the watch in your pocket as you observe for what feels like hours. There’s no cold air or wind, just a stillness that feels like you’re in a picture frame. You take a moment to look at Jesse, who’s been intently staring at one of the exits through the binoculars for a while now. Honestly this stakeout would be easier if everything didn’t feel so frozen.

All of a sudden, the light in a small window turns on as well, and it really feels like the moment of truth. You sit near Jesse as you both look around the tower intently, waiting for some sort of move, anything to happen. He grabs your shoulder and grits his teeth as you both look at what you didn’t expect to see on your first night. The tower door near the front opens, and what you see is hard to comprehend.

Out walks a man, and lanky was an understatement. He was very visibly tall but hunched over, dressed like a mad scientist they’d describe in the latest horror novels. White lab coat, goggles, gloves, yet all of it was covered in blotches of blood, some of it looking dried as if he hasn’t showered in weeks. What stood out most wasn’t even the man, it was what walked out right beside him, and that wasn’t even human. It was obviously some sort of weird machine, and it levitated across the ground, also covered in patches of dried blood. It was really a scene to behold, and you couldn’t help but stare wide eyed at them.

You immediately move to grab your notebook, but Jesse holds you back, not even tearing his gaze away from the pair. You turn to him and he whispers to you, “I can’t hear it, but he’s talking.”

You look at the man. Maybe the binoculars made the difference, but you couldn’t really see that close to see if their lips were moving. “Can you make it out?” you ask quietly

“Never was much good for reading lips, pumpkin,” he answers in the same hushed tone. “But I’ve got an idea.”

He hands you the binoculars and then starts to move towards the staircase. Wait, was he trying to get closer? “What are you doing? We can’t get caught!” you say, struggling to keep quiet.

“We also can’t be stuck doing this every night to see what they’re doing,” he responds in a whisper. “Just keep an eye, and I’ll try and hear what that creep’s sayin’.”

With that, he descends down the stairs, keeping as quiet as possible. You hide behind the stone railing for a moment while waiting for the quiet steps of Jesse’s boots to fade before turning around.

“I thought he’d never leave.”

You’ve heard that voice before, and it’s not one you wanted to hear any time soon. Just five feet away from you to your right, you see that same oni mask and horns of red. No slip ups this time, you grab your gun from its holster and point it at his face, gritting your teeth.

Genji quietly laughs and whispers back to you, “You’re going to fire a gun while your partner is off trying to get a drop on an unknown force? Risky, but I like it.”

Obviously you weren’t, but he wasn’t supposed to know that. “Why are you here?”

“You don’t remember? I said we could be allies here,” he replies. You absolutely hated that mask. It gave him the best poker face. You couldn’t read a thing on him. “I thought you didn’t tell your partner about it because you were considering it.”

How did he know that? How powerful of a demon was he that he could travel throughout here so easily and remain undetected? How did he slip past you and Jesse and eavesdrop like that?

You move to barely show your head above the railing once again, keeping one hand on your gun pointing at Genji and the other hand holding the binoculars. “Don’t think I’m not paying attention to you,” you say quietly as you return your gaze to the man from the tower. “Don’t give a reason to fire this gun either.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he responds in the same whisper as you try and find out what the pair is up to. It’s visible now the man is talking, and as he starts to yell at the machine that came out with him, you can hear it faintly, but not well enough to make it out. They both start to walk to a staircase that leads to under the tower, and then they walk on down and disappear from the scene.

“Tell me how long you’ve been working with your partner,” Genji asks after you briefly take the binoculars away from your eyes.

You turn to face him for just a moment, glaring him down, “I don’t recall saying we were gonna have some small talk.”

Genji speaks as you return your gaze to the staircase, waiting for the two of them to reappear, “That’s hurtful. I only wanted to get to know my ally.”

“We’re not allies either,” you say in the angriest whisper possible. “Do you want me to shoot you?”

“I don’t think you’d shoot me, to be entirely honest. Shooting air in an attempt to kill me, maybe.” Wait a minute, that didn’t sound like it came from the same place. You turn to your left and there he’s moved in an instant. You quickly turn to point your gun at him, but instead he only says, “Now don’t kick the hornet’s nest. Don’t ruin your stakeout and reveal yourself.”

This demon really held all the cards, didn’t he? That oni mask may have given him a poker face, but underneath it you could tell he was smirking. You knew he was toying with you, yet in this position, you really couldn’t fight back.

You lower your head and gaze for a second as you return your gun to its holster and continue looking at the staircase through the binoculars, “Just stay quiet so I can focus.”

“As you wish,” Genji says as he stays hidden behind the railing. Shortly afterwards, the odd pair returns, with several parts of scrap metal in the machine’s arms. The man looks like he’s berating the robot from here, and all of a sudden, the machine stops its movements.

It starts to look up right where you are.

You immediately duck behind the railing, heart racing. There’s no way it could have spotted you, right? Were those machines sentient? You say hidden, practically holding your breath waiting for it to stop looking. You hear faint yelling once again coming from the man, and you can only hope he’s not yelling at you.

“Don’t worry, it’s safe to turn around now,” Genji whispers to you. You shoot a look his way, as if you’re supposed to be able to trust him on that, but you can’t stay hidden behind the railing for forever. You raise your head, turn it to the side partially, and look out of your peripheral vision. To your relief, you see the man and the machine walking back to the tower, looking nowhere near you know.

You feel like you can finally breathe again as you hear your unwanted companion say in a quiet voice once again, “Our time will come to a close here soon, but know that you’re on the right track.”

“This part of your so-called alliance? Just saying I’m in the right direction?” you whisper back in an angry tone.

“Consider this part of it as well,” he answers, and within a second he’s right beside you whispering into your ear, “He’s not your final enemy. There’s still someone else in that tower.”

Your hands curl into balls as you ask back, “Not gonna bother telling me who?”

“Don’t worry, you already know who it is.”

Your eyes widen. What could that possibly mean? When you turn to ask him, however, Genji’s already disappeared from the scene.

Your head turns to the quiet footsteps up the castle wall, and you see Jesse approach you. “I’ve never heard a conversation that strange,” he says when he finally gets close to you to whisper. He then looks at you and sees your odd complexion, wide eyes and heavy breathing. “Hey, did something happen?”

How were you going to explain what happened? How you could tell Jesse that Genji showed up once again, that he was more than likely eavesdropping on your conversations, and that it spawned from you not telling him the whole truth. Well, there was an easy answer right now. You wouldn’t.

“There was a moment that the machine looked up my way,” you said, not technically lying, but far from being fully honest either. “I didn’t really think that thing was sentient, that it could hear or even notice my presence…”

“That would explain part of what I heard,” Jesse explains. “There was a moment where that creep looking scientist said to ‘stop screwing around and move the parts’. Guess he didn’t notice you himself.”

“Did the machine speak any?” you ask.

Jesse is quick to shake his head and answer, “Never. It was a one-sided talk, if you could even call it that. It was mostly the creep yelling about how something was fucked up. Said something about ‘how that devil tricked him’, and that was the nice version of what he was goin’ on about.”

“Nice version?”

“Well, he certainly called this ‘devil’ every dirty word in the book. Not really in me to speak of a woman like that.”

Woman?

“Wait, Jesse,” you point out, starting to regain your composure as you think, “He was speaking of a woman. Do you think he could be talking about the same woman from the previous hunter’s notes?”

He understands what you’re getting at. “That’s certainly a hunch. For now let’s get out of here. We’ve seen what we wanted to see.”

You nod as you move to stand, and you both head towards the stairs of the castle wall. You speak up as you both your way back to the inn, “Gotta say though. That was definitely the shortest stakeout we’ve ever been through.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> was gonna split the chapter in two chapters but i couldnt really find a good spot to split it at. please enjoy this 8k i just wrote


	3. Chapter 3

“So, you think that mystery woman is the one that weird scientist was talking about?”

“Just a suspicion, but yes,” you answer to Jesse as you both work on the notes from the stakeout, full writing down what the two of you had witnessed. Both of you sat at the bar of the inn, the dim lights of a lamp to accompany you. Neither Moira or Satya was around considering the time, so the lights were turned off and you were left to your own devices for drinks, but it was really the only suitable make shift desk you two had, so you did what you needed to do. “Not like that leads to any proof of who that is, but we already know that there’s multiple forces at work here, what’s the harm in assuming they could be working together?”

“Not a bad thought,” Jesse says as he continues to pen down the conversation from earlier. He reviews, “So what I picked up on the conversation from the two earlier, if you could even call it that, started with the man berating this woman he was talking about. He kept talking about how long it was taking her to uphold her part of the deal, how his plans were already years in the making, and how he couldn’t wait any longer.”

“Anything as to what this plan even is?” you ask.

He shakes his head and takes a drink from the glass of whiskey he grabbed earlier. “He just sounded impatient. I could really see them well, but I know they disappeared for a moment when the yelling stopped.”

“That’s when they must’ve gone down the stairs to under the tower,” you say, putting two and two together. “What about when they came back up?”

“He was then talking about how he didn’t have enough parts,” Jesse replies as he looks over your notes as you write. “One thing that caught my attention was how he was talking about having to do a run here soon.”

You stop. “You think he’s planning to go out and get more parts?”

“Sorta, but I don’t understand where he’d go. Everyone’s only caught glimpses of him, and I haven’t heard of any reports of him even leaving the area of the tower.”

You start to tap your pen against the wooden bar. “Maybe we should continue the stakeout then. If anything, we need to monitor it to see if that scientist makes a move like it sounds.”

The lights suddenly turn on, and your attention shifts to the doorway as you hear someone speak, “Yes, maybe you should actually keep watch on the tower.”

Out of Moira or Satya catching you using the bar as a desk for the night, this option was definitely less favorable of the two. Satya eyes your position before she continues, “That was a short stakeout. You already found what you needed that quick?”

You can only stare at her wide eyed for a moment before Jesse speaks up, “Definitely learned something helpful you could say.”

“And so you decided as a reward you’d help yourself to the whiskey in the bar while neither of us were here?”

Her distain for you both right now was understandable. It wasn’t necessarily an appreciative move, but neither of you were really used to having a bar that wasn’t open this late.

“Sorry Miss Satya, we’re just stuck to the rhythm that we’re used to,” you apologize, trying to recollect yourself after being caught.

Her stare is ice cold as she walks to behind the bar, takes the whiskey bottle and screws on the lid, “While I’m glad you found what you are looking for, I don’t appreciate you doing as you please in my inn. We keep the bar closed now when it gets too late because of the disappearances and deaths in our town; you two of all people should’ve guessed this.”

“Sorry ma’am,” you and Jesse both say almost in unison as you look down from her gaze. She clears her throat as she continues, “I don’t mind the celebration, but I expect some decency. You know the rules, you signed off on them for your stay here. Follow them.”

It was like receiving a lecture from your mom. You felt kind of humiliated as she read you the book, and you turn your eyes to see Jesse hiding his face behind his hat in shame. “If you’re going to plan, go ahead, but finish quickly, and leave the bar closed,” Satya finishes, and you see Jesse give her a nod in response.

You finally look up at Satya, and she has a smile on her face. Not necessarily a cold smile, but a smile that shows she’s achieved what she wanted: you following her structure.

“How’d you know we were in here?” you can’t help but ask. Satya doesn’t even flinch at your question as she answers, “I was feeling restless trying to sleep in my own room. Decided to go ahead and look around and see what was causing my uneasy feeling, and lo and behold here you are.”

“So, you stay in the inn yourself, what about Moira?” Jesse decides to branch off.

“She has her own home. What, shocked by the innkeeper staying in her own inn but not the barkeep?”

“Not what we were trying to get at, just curious is all,” you nervously smile as you answer. “We’ll be just a minute more or so and then we’ll head up, sorry for the trouble Miss Satya.”

Without a word and the same smile, she takes her leave, and it’s back to just the two of you. You mention to Jesse, “Looks like we’ll have to be careful when we come back late like this.”

“No kiddin’,” Jesse responds as he pulls your notebook shut. “Let’s go ahead and head up. We already have a plan to continue the stakeout, let’s let that end our night.”

With that, the two of you packed up for the night and headed upstairs to sleep.

The next morning, you were able to wake up on your own terms as opposed to hearing an argument downstairs. Jesse and you already had the plan of continuing the stakeout tonight, but as for the morning, that was still up in the air. As the two of you get ready for the day once more, you wonder what more you could do.

The two of you begin to head downstairs, and suddenly you’re hit with the aroma of toast and pork. You had as much culinary experience and knowledge as a rat, but you knew something down there smelled wonderful, and you could feel your stomach growling.

The scent led the two of you to the bar, where Satya was already eating at one of the tables away from the actual bar. Moira stood behind the bar proud with three extra plates on the bar, one of them empty. She turns to look at you as she speaks, “Glad to see you’re up after your late night. Feeling hungry?”

“Didn’t realize you were much of a cook,” Jesse responds as you both move to sit at the bar.

Moira chuckles, “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, of course. We’ve only just met. Go ahead, eat, take it as an apology for your awakening yesterday.”

It wasn’t a characteristic you’d expect Moira to have, but you’re not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. You and Jesse were used to just ordering food at a bar or whatever places you could find, it’s not like either of you were much of a chef or that you had a stable place you stayed where you could cook, and this really helped you stick to your rhythm of that. You both sit down to dig in to what feels like the first real meal you’ve had since you’ve arrived, and what Moira prepared was better than expected. When you thought of rations that were sent to aid towns like this, you wouldn’t think they would taste this fresh. Clearly, she had a skill.

“This is… amazing,” you can’t help but say, a little lost in thought. Moira only keeps her proud smile as she cleans what was presumably her own empty plate.

“Actually, while it’s on my mind, do you know when Brigitte is due for another visit?” Jesse speaks up between bites.

“And what would you need Lindholm for after you’ve arrived?”

“She works as an advisor for the kingdom, right? I’d like to know when the last census was taken around the country.”

You pause from eating and turn to Jesse, “That’s not even done that often. Why?”

“That freak from the tower was wearing a lab coat like a scientist,” Jesse answers. He rests his head against his hand on the bar. “Census should’ve picked up on professions when it was last done, and we can use those names uncovered and research them. See if there’s a match to him.”

“Hm, smart thinking,” Moira says. “Regardless, I said before she’s only here once every few weeks. You’d be better off writing to her once the deliverywoman comes by.”

“No phone around here?” you ask.

Moira shakes her head. “It’s new technology, and with the town in the shape that it’s in, it’s not something we can afford to keep.”

“I understand the expense, but why not at least one phone entrusted to someone, like the town leader? What about emergencies? Why not give you a better way to keep communication with them?”

“Believe me, we’ve all thought the same thing,” Moira answers with a sigh. “Might be why a lot of us aren’t fond of Lindholm.”

Makes sense. It seemed like such a lackadaisical approach to Aldersbrunn’s situation, the only true sort of communication outside being to the helpers and deliverers.

“In any case, whether it be by a delivery person or by Brigitte herself, we need to get in touch. The person in the tower appeared human, and if he is a person, chances are there’s records of him,” Jesse says, taking the last bite of pork on the plate. “Thanks for the breakfast, ma’am.”

You go ahead and continue eating the rest of your own breakfast. You’re still not sure what was going to happen today beside the stakeout at night. Surely the two of you would be able to find something.

“This used to be a capital. Is there a library, town hall, anywhere you guys would keep town records about?” you decide to ask next.

Moira shoots you a look. “Trying to look into the residents?”

“Sort of. I really just want to see if there’s anything newsworthy there. Plus, I’d like to learn more about the town,” you rest your elbows against the bar. “I can’t just sit still while waiting for the next night of the stakeout. Anything helps.”

Her gaze lightens up as she explains, “Most of the important documents pertaining to the country were moved when the capital moved. Town’s records, however, should’ve been moved from the castle to a new city hall in the main square of town.”

“Did everything move from the castle when the capital move? It makes it sound like it was abandoned.”

“It does, in a way. It wasn’t our decision however, it was at the discretion of the crown.”

Definitely odd. It seemed like the townspeople cared more about protecting what the town originally stood for than the actual kingdom. You never understood why the capital moved to begin with, but the more you hear, the more it sounds suspicious.

“Well, why don’t we make it a plan to check in with the locals and Lena, then make our way to said hall?” Jesse adds, stretching out in the barstool. “No use sittin’ around twiddling our thumbs waitin’ for dusk.”

“Fair enough,” you respond taking the last bite of the bread on your plate. “Thanks again, Moira.”

“I take it the two of you won’t be coming straight to the bar when you return, correct?” you hear Satya speak up. You almost forgot she was there.

“No worries, we understood loud and clear last night,” you give a nervous laugh as you turn around in the bar stool to face her. Part of you understood her frustration, but the other part wished she’d let it go.

You both say your goodbyes to Moira and Satya as you leave the inn. You see the town is back to its morning side: people moving throughout the streets, grabbing food and checking in. Zenyatta and Lena are organizing papers as they talk with other townsfolk, more than likely in an attempt to keep track of the people they checked in with. The travelers from yesterday who brought supplies all seem to have left, hopefully they’ll return soon to help.

You and Jesse make way to the center of town. The townspeople have thinned out as you approach the main square. Made sense considering Lena’s desire to keep the town together in the crisis that’d they stay all in the far end of Aldersbrunn. Jesse stops as he spots exactly what building you’re looking for, the town hall.

You also stop and take some time to examine the building. It felt like a ghost of the castle that represented the former capital. It was one of the few other buildings made of stone, but it felt very small and its design was far less complex. The stone slab that was once the sign for this building was now chipped, cracked, and dirty, as if it was almost malicious damage at that point. It was barely readable. Jesse pushes open the door with ease and comments, “Looks like they didn’t feel the need to protect what was in here.”

“Kind of surprised to see a town that refuses to leave due to pride not actually lock up the documents that make of the town,” you respond, arms folded. Jesse nods in acknowledgement as he lights a cigar, pushing his way inside.

Dusty felt like an understatement to describe the inside of this place. Records were left on the front desk, papers everywhere. The walls were in such bad shape you could see mold creeping up from the corners and floor. As you approach the front desk, you discover that part of it and the book left on it are rotted, and that leads you to look up to the ceiling to see the water damage.

“It’s only been a few months, yet this place looks like it’s been abandoned for years,” you say as you try to flip through whatever papers were left on the desk. “How was the place just excluded from the town’s pride?”

Jesse sits his hat on the desk then moves to open the back room behind the desk. It also opens with ease, making a loud creaking noise. “Looks like they didn’t lock back here either. Why would they…”

The backroom was like a library. Bookshelves filled with files, books, and boxes of records of the town were organized, each shelf accompanied with its own thick layer of dust, cobwebs, and bits of mold. The lack of windows in the room made it extremely dark to see, and whatever power source was used once in this building didn’t work when Jesse tried the switch.

“We can’t actually read in here, the irony,” you say as you step inside. “It’ll be a hassle to find a lantern or something at this point, let’s just grab what we can and bring it out into the light in the main room.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Jesse responds as he grabs a box off the shelf and stacks a few files beside it to carry out. You follow suit and grab some of the files and books from a different shelf, carrying them out to the main hall to see.

The process continues for what feels like hours. Every time you both grabbed different bits of news articles, records of towns people, books that detailed the towns history, but everything was practically useless to the issue. You both combed over old records from a hundred years ago to news articles and sections from last year in an attempt to find anything that could help, but it was all felt like it was for nothing.

You’re almost ready to take a nap on the floor from boredom when you hear Jesse call out your name to come over. You stretch out your back as you go to him. Jesse leans against the front desk as he shows you what seems to be another news article. He speaks, “Apparently there was a town advisory about relocating from the tower about a year ago.”

“It was important enough to be front page news,” you notice as you skim through the article on the desk. It mentions people approaching the tower before it became a symbol of fear, trying to learn more about the man inside and even trying to help him, but over the course of a few months, they were instead met with a putrid smell that enclosed the tower yet no actual sight of him. He wasn’t allowed to take up residence inside the tower, but the doors remained locked and the town was stuck with no way to get him out. No one had any solid idea what was going on, but from the lack of contact, it couldn’t have been anything good.

“So instead of looking for a way to get him out of the tower, they instead had everyone else relocate,” you sum up. “Feels like a coward’s solution.”

“Didn’t even work in the end, instead it just spread over the rest of the town,” Jesse responds as he moves the paper of the article to the side to read through something else. “And then take a look at this. First disappearance happened two months later.”

“Of course. Moving the town doesn’t solve a thing, the problem will just move with it.”

“Past this, there’s not much else,” Jesse stretches out in the front desk chair. “This must’ve been shortly before things got more extreme. Half the town packed up and ran for the hills, and that must’ve spread to the writers.”

“And as Lena said, the town officials also left, so if there was anything written, it’s not gonna be in here either.”

You sigh as you sit on the desk. You’ve been in here for most of the daytime and all you’ve gotten from your research is a confirmation on the timeline. It’s a small reward, if you can even call it that.

“I’ll admit, I’m more confused after coming here,” Jesse then speaks up as he stands. “Everyone’s told us they didn’t want to leave due to pride. They cared for this town and what it was, what it stood for, yet they leave the one building that can attest to their history and keep it preserved unlocked and destroyed.”

You and he were on the same level. “Satya’s inn is still in great shape despite the fact that no one stays there except the hunters who are helping. I understand that if town officials left here it would leave the job of caring for this place empty, but it seems off that no one would do it.”

“And outside of check ups and receiving deliveries, it’s not the town is extremely busy. Miss Satya’s over at that inn keeping it in pristine condition, but no one even thought of this place.”

It raises a lot of questions than answers. Neither of you really understood the town’s desire to stay, but this made it all the more questionable. If pride was what kept them here, why do nothing to preserve it? And if it wasn’t pride, then what held them in place?

“Why don’t we head back and prepare for another night of watching the tower?” you say, interrupting the brief silence. “There’s something I want to run by you before we begin.”

“Probably a good idea,” Jesse answers. Staying here wasn’t going to help answer the questions it raised. Besides, the goal wasn’t to move the people away from the town, it was to find the cause of the deaths.

As the two of you exit the town hall, you make it a point to shut the door to the once former symbol of pride. Jesse leads the walk back to the inn, and you both notice that most of the people are retreating to their homes, the sun barely on the verge of setting. The fear must weigh on them that happily if they look to hide away so quickly, but could you even blame them at that point considering what’s happened?

You both arrive back at the inn, greeting Satya at the front desk before heading up to your own room. You speak up once you enter, “I have an idea when we watch the tower tonight.”

“I’m all ears,” Jesse says as he sits on the bed, taking his hat off and resting it on the nightstand.

“What if we put a sigil at the exits of the tower?” you start to explain, sitting on your bed facing him. “Something that would block any demons, vampires, anything not human from leaving.”

Jesse chuckles at your suggestion, “Ain’t the goal supposed to be observing him? Assuming he’s not human, how’re we gonna do that if he can’t leave?”

“It has us make sure he’s human to begin with. Creatures are capable of camouflaging themselves into our society, so just because he looks human doesn’t mean he is.”

“Fair point.”

You move to sit beside your partner as you continue, “Not only that, but there’s also that mysterious woman still. If she’s also taken up residence in the tower, then she wouldn’t be able to leave until the presumably human man went and got rid of one of the sigils.”

“What if both of them aren’t human?”

“Then we’ll be watching a very idle tower for a few days. Maybe that machine we say will make its way outside and try and remove the sigils. Who’s to say, but it’s worth a shot.”

Jesse smiles at you as he speaks, “You’ve thought this through, huh?” You only smile in return as an answer.

“We’ll try it out then, but it might make for a boring stakeout,” he answers, falling back on the bed. “A boring search in a town hall, then a long stakeout. What a day, huh?”

“You know better than I do that this job isn’t just action,” you comment as you stand back. “Come on, let’s make sure we have everything ready for tonight and check if we can still get extra food to last us the night.”

About an hour later, dusk is finally upon you as you make your way back up to the top of the castle wall for the stakeout. You’ve already placed the sigils around the visible exits, effectively trapping anything not human inside. The waiting game begins once again, trying to learn what you can about the looming horror of the man in the tower.

“You think we’d luck out again and get our answer tonight? Two pieces of key information in only two nights?” Jesse asks as he pulls out another cigar from the tin. He then searches around his pocket for the lighter.

“We can only hope,” you answer, sitting against the guard rail. “I’d hate to be stuck here every night for a week just seeing if he, or anyone else can leave.” You notice Jesse is still fumbling around his pockets looking for the lighter. “You didn’t leave it at the inn, did you?”

“Haven’t even had a smoke since we arrived at the town hall,” he answers, now looking across the floor at your feet. “Unless it fell out of my pocket.”

You decided to go ahead and stand up, looking around the floor of the castle wall as well. It was a tin lighter, so it should easily shine in the light the setting sun was providing. You also backpedal a bit and look around the staircase and the ground as well, but no luck. As you return, Jesse’s already putting the cigar back in the tin. You sigh, “We’ll have to look around the inn and the town hall as well once we’re done here.”

“I guess I’ll get another cigar in t…” He trails off as he looks from the tin he placed back in his pocket to you. It actually felt like he was staring through you to see behind you, his eyes widening as he takes a step back.

You feel uneasy. Jesse moves his hand to his gun as you try and speak, “Jesse… what’s wrong…?”

In a split second, he grabs his gun as he yells, “Move, just run forward!”

But instead you feel something grab your shoulder, preventing you from doing as he says.

You turn around in a panic, only to see nothing but black smoke and emptiness coming from what looked like a portal. Out of that blackness was nothing more than a grey, muscular arm that was firmly latched on to you. The claws on the hand sunk into your jacket and was even piercing your skin as it pulled you into the inky abyss behind you.

You could only cry out “Jesse!” as you reached out to him in an attempt to free yourself from the grasp, and he takes aim at the hand that’s attached to you, but it remains nothing more than attempt. In the next second, the hand pulls you in fully, and instead of seeing your partner and the orange sky, you see nothing. Pure black fills your vision, and in one moment you’ve gone from being dragged while standing to feeling like you’re falling.

You don’t even get the time to yell as you land flat on your back, coughing as soon as you make contact from the air being ripped out of your lungs. You bring yourself to your arms and knees, trying to end your coughing and regain any sense of composure. Your shoulder still cried out in pain from the hand that pulled you in, and once you finally feel like you can breathe again, your hand that covered your mouth moves to your shoulder.

You finally stand and try to take in your surroundings, but you only end up more confused at the sight in front of you. You stood behind a large wooden wall and several beautiful homes along a stone pathway that lead up to a stunning home, but the atmosphere of the place felt awful. A thick fog enveloped the area along a dark gray sky, and the street lights that decorated the road were dim and did nothing to give any actual light. The only source of light really came from a full moon that was able to shine through the fog.

Where in the hell did you land at?

“I must speak with you,” you hear a voice speak. You instantly jump and turn behind you, pulling out your gun in one swift motion and aiming it at the voice. You’re now face to face with a man with pure white eyes glaring a hole into you.

No, not a man. He’s a demon. His skin is the same dark grey as the arm that pulled you through the portal, and while you notice the intricate tattoo that rests on his left arm, you notice that the claws on his right hand are covered in something scarlet. Your own blood.

You return his gaze as you keep your gun pointed at him, “You have an interesting way of inviting someone to chat.”

His face doesn’t move an inch after your remark. His stern expression only deepens as he responds, “Point that thing all you want at me. It’s not going to do you any use here in this domain.”

“…this domain?” you can’t help but ask. Wait, he couldn’t mean…

He scoffs at you. “You spend all this time fighting our kind from here, yet the words get stuck in your throat once you’re actually face to face with it?” He takes a step closer to you and folds his arms. “My name is Hanzo Shimada, and welcome to my section of Hell.”

You want to collapse on the stone road. You didn’t think you’d see Hell until you were dead, and now you’re face to face with a demon saying this is his section, whatever that means. “Your section…?”

“You’ve come face to face with demons before, but I take it you’ve never seen anything of our caliber before. We’re not just demons, we hold an important role here.”

He walks past you and towards the elegant home at the end of the road, paying no attention to your gun or stance. You take it as your move to follow, putting the gun back in the holster as you continue your questions, “You wanna tell me what that important role is?”

“Think of it as a form of delivery,” Hanzo continues, not even bothering to turn to face you. You notice the bow on his back alongside the arrows, as if he was ready for a fight at any time. “We bring people’s souls to Hell after death. There’s hundreds of us here operating in this section, and I am it’s leader.”

This felt unreal. You had trouble wrapping your mind around it, a high figure from Hell taking you away from your partner in regards to ‘talking’ to you. “I don’t recall me doing talk-worthy of as of recently.”

“Don’t think so highly of yourself; it’s not you I care about.” Ouch. Hanzo’s words sting. “You’d be obsolete to me if you weren’t investigating that town.”

So, it’s the town he’s after? You both approach the home but instead of walking inside, Hanzo turns and walks around the building into what looks like a garden. “If it’s the town you’re wanting, why’d you only bring me here? Did you think I was the weaker one and you’d have an easier time with me?”

“Will you let me finish speaking before you interrupt with false assumptions?” Hanzo says, and you can hear the anger dripping from every word. You decide to keep quiet for now, you had no idea if you could really take on a demon in his own home, and the odds were stacked against you. He continues, “I care nothing about the town, you, your partner, any of it. I care about being about to perform my job and bringing condemned souls to where they belong. Unfortunately, that’s become difficult as of late since my brother refuses to take any active role in what we’ve been doing for centuries.”

You start to connect the dots in your mind. It’s not the town he’s after; it’s his brother, and there’s only one being that comes to mind that’s connected to both you and Aldersbrunn.

“It’s Genji,” you can’t help but speak up. “You’re trying to get Genji to come back.”

Hanzo finally stops his pace right beside the pond. “Now you’re starting to get it.” He turns to face you again, his expression still the same, and you have the feeling it’s not going to change any time soon. “It’s hard to get his attention away from that town. He sees the thing as some free play, and he’s been gone from where he should be for about the past year. Tell me, do you know how much time passes down here in the span of one year on Earth?”

You didn’t really know the answer outside the hypothesis that Hell’s time was much slower than your time, but you expect Hanzo didn’t expect an answer as he continues within seconds time, “Then, imagine my surprise when I find he’s going around flirting with some hunter and helping them solve the case.”

“Prefer you didn’t phrase it that way.”

“Right, it’s just a normal alliance, and that’s why you refuse to your partner the truth behind your encounters,” Hanzo snaps and catches you completely off guard. “He compliments you and you hide it from him. He joins you while your partner gets close to the doctor and gives you hints about the witch helping him, and you tell your partner nothing. I wonder why.”

Your eyes widen. “Witch?”

Hanzo only ignores you to continue, “I wonder why you refuse to speak to him. Maybe you enjoy his company.”

“It’s barely been three days, and he’s spent the majority of the time acting high and mighty,” you snap back. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but I think you need to rethink it.”

Hanzo grits his teeth as he loses his calm, practically all but yelling, “Then cast it aside! What are you waiting for if you’re desperate for him to leave?” Your eyebrows furrow as you try to interrupt, but Hanzo’s not finished, “We’re not human, but we’re not animals. He wouldn’t keep approaching you if you did anything to stop him. Yet you refuse to do the one thing that would make it infinitely harder for him to continue, and that’s tell your partner! Stop with the act!”

He’s got you read to a fault. It was true, you still haven’t told Jesse anything, and you knew that would only invite Genji to keep seeing you. “So I haven’t told Jesse, what does that matter to you?”

“It matters because my damn brother is going to keep seeing you and abandoning what he was created to do. All I want to do is end this before it gets out of hand even more, and you’re going to be my way of doing that.”

“You think it’s all going to fall into place that easily?”

“It will if you cast aside his affections and actually solve the issue of the town,” Hanzo replies, his tone starting to get calmer. “As long as you tell your partner and get back to solving this on your own terms, I’m sure he’ll lose interest in the sad little town and feel dejected enough to return to where he belongs.”

“What, no help from you? As if the job wasn’t hard enough as it is.”

Your quip only causes him to get angry again. “You need his help then? Very odd for a hunter to be so weak that they need the help of what he hunts.”

Hanzo’s words cut deep. It’s not what you meant to say, but it sure sounded that way. “So why don’t you at least send me back then? Or do you expect me to find all the answers here in Hell with you when you won’t tell me a thing?”

It was a defense mechanism. The sarcasm, jokes, and quips you’d make when in danger sometimes eased the nerves in a way. Except now they were about to get you in further trouble as Hanzo responds, reaching behind his back, “Or I could kill you and hope your death inspires you partner and hurts my brother. It would save me the trouble of dealing with your insolence.”

That really snaps you into place. You knew one of those arrows at this range would have a hard time missing, and you didn’t need another injury. You move to grab your gun, but within a blink, Hanzo is no longer in front of you, and you can hear the sound of the bow stretching right behind you. You feel your heart racing as he stays perfectly silent, feeling stuck in slow motion as you try to duck in time.

Instead of feeling an arrow pierce you, you hear the sound of a blade clashing against the wood of the bow. You stare wide eyed at the ground before you turn around to see the bow cast aside in the grass and Hanzo face to face with the same brother he’s trying to bring back.

Genji.

“So you’ll come back for the hunter? I doubt you’ll say,” Hanzo practically spits at Genji. Genji doesn’t even turn away from Hanzo as he holds his blade steady.

You couldn’t believe it. You had no reason to doubt Hanzo’s story, but him being here sets everything in stone. You could only stare wide eyed at your savior before he spoke, “Run back into the portal now.”

He didn’t face you to speak, so you could barely hear him. It took you a moment to process what he had said, before you turned behind you to see the same inky black portal. You really had no reason to believe Genji would lead you to your demise, and it’s not like you had any other exit, but you still were weary of it, especially since it’s what brought you here. However, one of the things that also held you back from leaving was the concern for Genji. You knew these two were about to fight, and you had no idea of their skill. You wanted to make sure he would be okay, and you’re shocked that you find yourself in this position.

“Don’t worry about me, just get out of here back to your partner, treat your wound,” Genji speaks in the same calm tone as before. It really catches you off guard. “Go.”

Hanzo clearly isn’t focused on you anymore. You turn to stand and run through the inky portal, only to be met with the same pitch-black darkness you’ve experienced before.

There was no feeling of falling this time. You kept running with no sense of direction until you see a small glimmer of light, and once you see it, you keep sprinting until the light envelops you. Once you reach the light, you practically crash into it, and suddenly you find yourself tripped up on the stone floor of the castle wall you were taken from.

You try to help yourself up when you hear the same familiar voice call out your name in relief. Jesse helps you fully stand when he sees your shoulder and practically exclaim, “My god, what happened?”

This wasn’t the best place to be loud, but you knew Jesse was just concerned for you. You really didn't care about your injury so much as you cared about letting Jesse know about Hanzo's little slip of the tongue. “Never mind that, I found something out—”

“Don’t pull that ‘never mind’ shit with me, you disappear through a weird abyss and come back a few seconds later with blood pumping out your shoulder, and you wanna jump back into it?” Jesse says, his grip on your uninjured shoulder tightening. “The stakeout can wait, the whole damn mission can wait, I want to make sure you’re safe.”

Really, you should be grateful than anything. You sigh as you mutter, “I’m sorry.”

Jesse finally exhales in relief as he continues, “Don’t apologize to me. We’ll talk all about it once we arrive back at the inn. Can you walk fine? Is that your only injury?”

You nod as you look down, finding it hard to look him in the eyes. What you just experienced was far beyond his comprehension, something was boiling under the surface and he had no idea.

Yet, you still feel like you should keep the experience hidden under lock and key.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wanted to finish this chapter before halloween was over but thats ok, its demon loving time all year round


	4. Chapter 4

Injuries weren’t always a big deal. Sometimes they were common. If you or your partner were ever to be hurt on the job, as long as it wasn’t too severe, you could patch it up and continue on. However, when you have an injury still dripping blood after being grabbed and taken away by a demon, it made it a big deal.

Your shoulder wasn’t hurt enough to wear it was useless, but after the adrenaline and shock wore off from the encounter with Hanzo, you were fully aware of how much pain you were in. His claws dug deep into your skin, and your jacket and shirt were now bloody and pierced. It was almost dark out when you returned to the inn, Jesse at your side and Satya staring at you wide eyed. There was a look of disgust yet concerned as she noticed your appearance and twisted face as Jesse spoke up, “Sorry for the mess, ma’am. Happen to have any bandages we can use?”

Satya quickly nods before quickly running off to the back room behind the counter. It doesn’t take long for her to return with a wooden box, presumably a first aid kit. You reach out to take it, but Jesse beats you to it, thanking her before you both head up the stairs to your room.

“Y’know I’m not completely useless with an injury,” you comment as you plop down on the bed.

Jesse sighs but smiles as he sits beside you and answers, “Wasn’t implying anything of the sort.”

It was the same after all these years. You knew he was only helping, and really you were grateful, but sometimes the help felt like you were being coddled. The banter never really changed from there. What also never changed was the sense of comfort you felt around him. You went ahead took off your jacket and unbuttoned your shirt, stripping down to just the tank top underneath. Jesse went ahead and opened up the kit on the bed beside him, revealing bandages, medical tape, cotton, alcohol, and scissors. Even burn cream and other medicines were in the box.

You go ahead and move the bloody strap of the top away from your shoulder. The alcohol burns your injury as Jesse cleans the wound with clean cotton. This was always the worst part of an injury to you, the tedious aftercare. You take a look at your shoulder during the cleaning to see four distinct sized holes in your skin from Hanzo’s claws. You felt something in the back of your shoulder as well, probably from his thumb. Once the injury is clean and the blood no longer stains your skin, you hold another bunch of the clean cotton up to your shoulder as Jesse readies the tape and bandages.

Due to the placement of the injury, the bandages ended up fully wrapped around the top of your chest as well in order to fully cover the wound in the front and back. As Jesse puts away the rest of the supplies in the box, he breaks the silence, “I was half expecting you to want to tell me about what you found out from the moment we walked in.”

Yeah but that was before the adrenaline wore off. “I think I found the answer to our question about that woman,” you begin, and you can see Jesse’s face light up. “I don’t think he meant to even tell me about it. He ignored me when I asked further.”

“He?”

You tense up a little before you answer, “His name was Hanzo. He was the one who grabbed me through the portal. He… was another demon who said he was in charge of a certain section of Hell.”

Jesse looks at you stunned for a minute before he responds, “If he’s really that strong and that much of a figure, what’d he want with the town? I could see why that weird demon from when we first arrived would care about the town if he enjoyed the show, but for a demon who claims to have a high status to care enough to try and kidnap one of the hunters involved…”

You feel like this second lasts an hour. There’s a huge reason, and the reason was also why you were able to make it back instead of lying dead in his domain. There was a part of you that really wanted to just say it, truly. Jesse had every right to know, and you hated hiding things from him. It’s not like you owed anything to Genji either. In the three days you’ve known him, he’s only managed to confuse you under the guise of helping, and even though he saved you, he was the reason Hanzo took you to begin with.

“I’m not sure why, but I think he’s irritated with the town. Something about it must be making it hard for him to maneuver.”

Jesse takes your answer for now, “Well, we’re not here to accept help from someone who just wants to hurt you. What’d he let slip?”

“When he was referring to the man in the tower, he phrased it as ‘the doctor and the witch helping him’.”

There’s a moment of silence as Jesse absorbs what you say. “A witch…” the words linger on his lips. It really was a strange combination of creatures. Outside of Genji who viewed himself as a spectator, you already had the weird machines and the man in the tower. Now the mysterious woman actually appeared to be a witch. It was a lot to take in.

Jesse snaps back to attention as he then replies, “That’s gotta mean the witch is operating through that freak in the tower. If he’s human there’s no way he’s controlling her.”

“It’s really difficult to get the edge on a witch. Magic’s no joke,” you continue off his thoughts. You chuckle to yourself. “But if we really are going up against a witch, our job just got a lot harder.”

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t take care of it,” Jesse says as he stands up from the bed. He takes a look through the boarded windows of the room to see the now black night sky. “One more question, Hell… that place he said was his domain. What was it like?”

Not the question you were expecting. “It was… gray. Where I was almost reminded me of a neighborhood, but there was a huge home at the end of the road. It was almost like something you’d see in the east part of the world, but it wasn’t destroyed or anything. It looked beautiful outside of the gloomy scenery.”

“Interesting…” Jesse then turns to face you. “How’d you get free? It felt like you were only gone for a minute.”

“He ended up letting me go,” you lie, not breaking contact from him in attempt to look believable. “I was pretty shocked myself considering he threatened me to fix this town, but I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. As for the time I was gone, I’ve heard from a few sources that Hell runs at a slower time from the world above. I guess that was confirmed with my visit.”

Jesse chuckles. Looks like it was believable for now. “Fair enough. I won’t keep pestering you about it, but I like to know, make sure my partner’s safe and alright.”

There’s pain in your heart as you smile. You can’t help but love Jesse’s kind soul, and even if his help felt smothering at times, it just always proved he cared. That’s why hiding Genji hurt you. Jesse only looked out for you, and you knew getting yourself further entwined with this demon couldn’t lead to any good outcomes, but in the end, it’s what you were doing.

And the further you delayed telling him, if you were planning to, the worse it would get.

“I’m gonna go ahead down to the bar, enjoy a drink,” Jesse continues, setting his hat down on the tableside bed. “Haven’t had much of a break since we got here. Care to join?”

“Nah, I’m gonna change into a fresh shirt and just rest,” you reply, leaning back on your hands against the bed. “The shock of the situation’s finally wore off. Don’t think I’ll be able to stay awake much longer.”

“Fair enough.” That gentle smile of his returns. “Get some rest, then. I won’t be too long.”

You smile at him as he leaves, and once the door shuts behind him, you finally collapse on the bed, feeling the weight of the world pushing you further into the mattress. There really was an easy way out of your situation, one that would easy your pain alongside getting Hanzo off your back. Why you couldn’t commit to it was beyond you.

“I’m surprised. I thought you’d really run off to tell him.”

This had to be a joke. There’s no way he was free from his fight with Hanzo that fast already, but when you jolt up and look to the location of the voice, you see him. You see Genji laying in Jesse’s bed casually, arms resting behind his head and leg propped up as he stares at the ceiling behind the mask.

You move to speak, but Genji already guesses your train of thought, “You’re going to ask how the fight went, right? It was the same as always; we exchange blows, berate each other and curse each other out, but there’s never any resolution. One of us ends up fleeing before it gets too serious.”

You really wish you could see his face under the mask. You couldn’t clearly read the tone in his voice or make out how he felt. You decide to ask next, “Do you just enjoy listening in on Jesse and I’s conversations and watching us that much? I thought you wanted a show within the town.”

“I enjoy watching you figure out what to do next and seeing you try and figure it out,” Genji responds, head turning to face you. “But you and your partner are like glue. Hard to remove you from one another, so I have to look for a good opening to see you.”

You tear your gaze away from him. Was he trying to flirt with you? You knew it was far from an innocent remark. You cross your legs on the bed, hands resting in your lap before you continue, “Y’know you guys can just call him Jesse.”

“’You guys’?”

“Hanzo did the same thing. He is my partner, but you can say his name. I doubt you didn’t know it.”

Genji pauses before his gaze returns to the ceiling as he chuckles, “Noted.”

Silence fills the air for a hot minute. What else was there for you to say? His brother hurt you and dragged you to Hell and practically threatened you to hurry your work, Genji saved you from death at his hands, and now both of you sat in the aftermath, but you had no idea what was to come of it. You wanted to know Genji’s true intentions and his thoughts, but everything about him was clear as coal.

“You’re a little quiet today,” you comment, trying to at least fill the room with some noise.”

“I was thinking for a moment.”

“About?”

“In all honesty, I was thinking about you,” Genji says as he finally sits up. “Part of me really thought you’d tell Jesse about our meeting last night while he tried to get closer, but you didn’t. It’d be much harder for me to actually see you if you had, since I doubt he’d take my help.”

It’s not like he was really helping outside of vague hints. He continues, “And then imagine my surprise when you lie and tell him that my brother had nothing to do with me. You kept my name out of it, even from where I helped you escape. I would think you’re not proud of not telling him, but still.”

You hang your head as you respond, “Your point being…?”

There’s a moment before he answers, “I’m not sure there is a point right now. I think if anything I’m glad you kept it our secret.”

“You sound condescending.”

“I don’t mean to.”

It’s a small comment that catches you off guard. He sounds sincere, and for once you feel like you actually got something clear from him. Genji stands up the bed and moves to look through the cracks of the boarded-up window, “I’ll help you with this town. I doubt Jesse would believe a thing I’d say, so I’ll just help to point you in the right direction. If you’ll make the space to see me, that is.”

Despite your tired body begging you not to, you also moved to stand off the bed. “And if I tell Jesse?”

“Then I’ll take my information, go back to being a spectator, and you’ll never hear from me again,” he replies as he turns to face you.

You could almost laugh at this situation it felt so surreal. A high-level demon coming to you and wanting to help you with the very case he’s been a spectator in for the past few months but only under the guise of hints was probably the craziest scenario you could think of, but here you were, face to mask with such a creature. You can only stare him down as you try to keep yourself calm as you ask, “What you’re asking for may sound simple, but considering who we are, it’s anything but. How can I be sure I can even trust you with this to begin with?”

He chuckles again. He feels confident, cocky even, as he answers, “I’m hurt. I already thought you trusted me.”

You didn’t think he was serious, but even if he wasn’t joking, you could see why. First thing you’d do after a demon encounter if you felt safe enough to do so would be to tell someone, yet that was beginning to be the furthest thing from your mind.

Your train of thought is interrupted by Genji walking forward. You were happy he actually walked to approach you instead of just using speed to be suddenly in front of you. What shocked you was when he reached for your hand. You flinched at first, your first instinct telling you to pull away, but you let him pull your hand into his. He was gentle, being cautious of the claws he possessed to turn your hand over to see your palm. His other hand softly runs over the lines of your palm, his claws gently grazing and tickling your skin and causing your fingers to fidget.

The desire to be able to read him has never been stronger than now. You look at his face to see his head is turned down looking at your hand. It felt like he was all over the place, one moment you think he’s here to tease you, the next he seems sincere, one moment he’s flirting, and the next he seems curious. You want nothing more than to take advantage of this closeness and remove his mask and see what he’s really thinking, but you don’t have it in you to move.

This moment felt intimate. You both stand within a few inches of one another, his gentle touch making it hard for you to separate yourself from him. You’re really drawn in at this point. You almost miss it when you hear Genji finally speak again, “You remember my name from the first time two days ago, right?”

“Of course I do.” An odd question. You want to ask him why he asked, but he still seems lost, staring at the skin on your hand. You decide to ask a different question, “Do you know mine?”

You can hear a breathy laugh as he answers, “Of course I do.” Genji finally lets go of your hand and finally looks back up to you as he continues, “For a moment I thought you had forgotten, that it wasn’t that important for you to remember.”

“How could I forget? It’s not like that was a small encounter,” you respond with a shaky laugh of your own.

“Well then,” he continues with a call of your name. “I think I’ll be able to assist you just fine while you’re here. Do we have a deal?”

The intimate moment may have been over, but when he says your name, you feel it again. It felt sweet like honey. The life-threatening situation you were in not even an hour ago is far from your mind. Not even the deal was the main concern. Your attention and thoughts are solely focus on the demon in front of you, and despite the fact that you know he holds the upper hand in this situation, it’s not alarming. He really has you pegged, you do trust him.

“It’s a deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i must confess, this chapter is shorter than the standard i'd like to hold this fic to. but it's for good measure, next chapter is going to be with a lot more content and i can't think of a good spot of where to cut it off and stick it in this chapter.
> 
> but hey, we're getting to the genji content now. more than just a single moment together at least


	5. Chapter 5

It’s now been one week since you’ve arrived in Aldersbrunn, and while the first three days were filled with experiences you never thought you’d have, the past four days have been anything but.

The hint that the big boss was a witch definitely helped. Getting rid of one was an easy solution: bullet through the heart, but what made it difficult was the fact that it was a witch. The power they wielded was something to behold, really. They could control the elements of the earth at will, manipulate minds and souls, and even extraordinarily strong witches could easily make the dead living once again. You and Jesse had easily formulated a plan for how to take care of her. It was simple, isolate her, take away her resources, and then trap her where her only option left will be her death.

So, that led to four boring days of nothing but observation, research, and waiting for a response from Brigitte. Three days ago, you finally were able to have a deliverywoman come by and deliver your letter to her. It was a relatively open request: all you wanted to know of there was anyone within the town’s records or census count that could be matched with the man in the tower. After the attack from Hanzo, you and Jesse were able to make it back out to the tower the next morning to see the marks outside the exits to be gone, the only sign that they ever existed being the red smudge marks of the paint you used.

The downside to the plan was definitely the aftermath. The plan to observe definitely let the man in the tower know he was being watched. You knew hunters had been brought in to help in the past, but if they left any trails before they quit, you couldn’t find them. Needless to say, when you went back up to the castle wall again later that day, you found a convenient road block atop the stairs that led up: a steel trap alongside a mine. One step and you’d be gone. You two would definitely have to be careful.

What was really throwing you off was Genji. You had already made your deal with him and accepted his help. Your stomach was in knots every time you thought about it, especially considering how it went behind Jesse’s back, but he was eager to help, and you wanted answers fast. After your deal, it fell on your shoulders to make the space to see him, which would mean you’d have to deceive your partner in order to score some alone time. The issue was when you decided to cut your time short at the bar to get him to visit you in your room, he didn’t show. It made your heart ache as you waited for him to never show, especially after the moment you shared with him not long before, and it made you wonder if he was in the end just using you.

Now here you were, on the eighth day, waiting for anything to help and break you from this cycle of boredom. You and Jesse sat at the counter of the bar after finishing the breakfast from Moira, notebook open as you review the notes so far. You could hear Moira talking with Satya behind the bar about today being another delivery day, which probably meant Satya would be seeing Lucio again. You both were already planning on heading out early so you could be out of the way of whatever could happen, so you decided to take this as your sign to leave for the day.

As you leave the inn, you see Lena and Zenyatta grouped up with a rather large group further down the path. A sense of urgency filled the air as you can hear Lena’s loud voice, almost as if she was desperate. Jesse went ahead and, using a new lighter obtained from Moira, lit a cigar as he spoke, “Sounds like an emergency.”

You both knew something was up. You approach the large group as Lena’s instructions become clearer, “…if you see her before then, immediately return to this spot where Zenyatta will be waiting. Don’t delay! Check every spot you’ve been assigned so we can bring Elena back home!”

That certainly caught you off guard. A disappearance? You knew that the town’s been struggling with missing and dead people, but you didn’t think that’d happen while you were here, especially since the other day he was aware of your presence.

There was idle conversation as everyone went over the plan as you decide to speak up, “Anything we can help with here?”

Lena quickly turns to you and her face lights up as she sees the two of you. “Thank goodness you’re here! I was actually going to see if you two had any leads or saw anything about Elena.”

“Don’t think we’ve ever met the girl, Miss,” Jesse speaks.

“Is that so?” Lena says next, looking a little deflated. “Damn. I knew you were still working on it, but I didn’t expect her to go missing. Her mother said she went to bed as usual last night, but when she went to wake her up the next morning, her bed was completely empty. It didn’t even look like she slept in it.”

“That’s certainly a red flag,” you respond. “We’ll join the search here. What’s she look like?”

“No, I couldn’t ask for—”

Jesse waves his hand and brushes off her rejection, “We’ve been hired to help the town. Considering we were called in responses to the disappearances, I say this is right up our alley.”

Lena looks pensive at first before Zenyatta approaches you and joins the conversation, “Lena, I think their aid would be key here. We definitely need someone who’s able to search the most dangerous part of this town and see if she can be found.”

She sighs as she finally speaks herself, “Fair enough. I planned on searching that area myself, I couldn’t bare asking anyone else to do it if was going to be near the tower, but if you two are going to help, I’ll accept it.”

You nod and smile at her, “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find her and bring her back safe. Can you tell me what she looks like?”

After getting a description of Elena, you head off to search near the tower. From what Lena said, she’s only about twelve years old and no more than four and a half feet tall with short black hair. Should be easy enough to find if she’s over here. The tower in daylight contrasted against how you saw it in dusk and the night, the gray stone bricks of the castle walls and tower really showed their age, the moss growing where the sun couldn’t reach in copious amounts. Weeds and grass sprung up from the cracks in the concrete ground, growing around the tower and really adding to the atmosphere. If you didn’t already know that a man and a witch was living inside, you’d really think it was abandoned.

“Should we split up?” Jesse asks as you both obverse the tower.

It takes you a minute to answer. As much as you wanted the alone time to draw out Genji, here wouldn’t be the best time, not to mention you had no idea if he’d even show. “Probably not. We’ve seen the traps that he’s placed around the tower, so we should stick together and be careful.”

“Works for me. Let’s start at the bottom of the wall.”

With that, you and Jesse made your way through the underworks of the castle wall. It was like an underground path, no light source as you looked through outside of the dim flame of the lighter Jesse was using. It was as you both expected, there was a trap waiting through one of the walkways, the spring wired to a detonator on the wall. You both carefully step around it through the walkway, leading you through a path that was free from the castle wall. The sky greeted you again as you continued to follow the path to a door to another underground room.

“Hey,” Jesse interrupts the silence. “Look at the placement. Pretty sure this is the same cellar that we saw the first night.”

You hadn’t recognized it yourself, but he was right. The door was so close to the tower’s doors that it was alarming. “Be extra careful then. It’s entirely possible that the door’s rigged from the inside.”

Jesse nods, placing his ear against the door to see if he can hear anything. “Silent,” he comments before he takes a step back and slowly opens the door.

The moment the door is cracked open, you’re hit with a disgusting smell. It almost makes you gag as you stick a hand to your mouth and nose in an attempt to block it out, but the sight in front of you once the door fully swings open makes it hard not to smell… or stare at.

This room had more blood in it than a butcher’s shop. Bodies laying the corner and all sorts of different parts and limbs were found on every table, all most all of them rotting and filled with maggots, bones showing, and the blood already drained into piles on the floor. The skin on the bodies were all a sickly pale grey-greenish color, flies roaming around the room and crawling all over them. Whatever metal parts and machinery that was in the room was caked in dirt and blood. It churned your stomach.

You had to turn away from the scene before you vomited, almost collapsed on the ground. Just how disgusting was this man?

“These definitely ain’t no ‘mystery disappearance’… he’s always been behind it,” Jesse speaks up, unable to rip his eyes away from the horror show. “How is he human…?”

“Do you… see her in there?” you ask, trying to stand.

“Probably not. I don’t see her on the top of the piles of bodies. Damn freak… he’s probably killing and then just throwing the bodies in here after he takes what parts he needs.”

“Let’s leave here then… he probably revisits this room often. If we look around and misplace something, he’ll get more suspicious then he is now.”

“Fair enough,” Jesse says as he slowly shuts the door. The stench still sticks with you after it’s closed.

It might not have been Elena you found there, but you did learn something new at least.

You and Jesse are completely silent after the discovery as you decide to backtrack through the underground passageway back to head up the stairs again. Instead of going all the way up to the top of the castle wall, you instead go through the level below. There was a hole that had been smashed through the castle wall, most likely due to vandalism, that allowed light to filter through the level. As you continued through, the passageway was blocked off due to fallen stone. The top of the castle wall was caved through. Strange, this wasn’t here before.

You feel your stomach twist up in knots. You were there were traps placed in several odd spots. If Elena had run off from home, ran here, and got caught in the traps…

Jesse seems to have the same feeling as he drops to one knee and inspects the fallen stone. There was no blood or any indication that someone was injured or dead beneath. You look up to see that the due to the ceiling being smashed through, there was a small opening on top of the rubble to climb over it to the other side.

You move to start climbing over the stone. The footy was shaky to say the least, and as you start to progress, you tell Jesse, “Catch me if I slip.”

He lets out a breathy laugh as he responds, “Of course I would.”

You slip through the space of the rubble and the castle wall with ease. As you stand atop the fallen rocks, you hear small feet running away from your position. As first you feel a bit of hope, until you remember the traps that were strewn about the castle walls. You travel to the other side of the rubble quickly afterwards, calling out, “Wait! Don’t move, there are traps!”

You don’t hear the footsteps anymore, but you do hear Jesse shout out to you, “Wait! You’re sure that’s her?”

“Won’t know unless I follow and find out,” you respond as you slowly walk the pathway towards the footsteps. Jesse urges you to be careful as you watch your own step, looking for any steel traps or explosives nearby. Any doubt you could’ve had that this wasn’t the girl you were searching for disappears as you hear quiet sobs before you turn the corner around the hallway. You try calling out in a gentler voice, “Elena?”

The sobs stop. Around the side of a box in the hallway, a small face appears with short black hair. She looks petrified, her hair a mess and scratches across her face. You try and smile as you approach her and extend your hand, “Hey, how’d you end up here? Everyone’s worried about you.”

She quickly wipes her tears with her hand, before she stands up from behind the box and grabs your hand. Elena is quick to stutter out, “I-I’m sorry, I just s-s-saw—”

“Hey, hey, we’ll talk about that later, okay? Let’s get out of here first, it’s not safe here.”

She nods and you finally feel relieved as you lead her back to rubble pile where you left Jesse behind. You call out to him, “Hey, found her. She’s alright, just help her get over this sack of stones.”

Jesse lets out a sigh a relief as you guide Elena over the top of the rubble. Once you hear her drop down and Jesse introducing himself to her, you make your own ascent up the fallen stones. Once down and reunited with your partner, you speak up, “Let’s get out of here before we talk about what you saw, okay Elena?”

Elena only nods as you walk down the walkway, but it’s only a few steps as you notice Jesse hasn’t moved. He seems focused in on something as you call out to him, “Jesse?”

“Do you hear that?” he says in a quiet voice. The way he speaks instantly alarms you, and now you’re trying to clear your mind just to hear better. Then, you can hear the faint sound Jesse was worried about.

The ticking.

Jesse’s quick to turn around and shout, “Move it!” as you grab ahold of Elena’s wrist and run down the hallway. Your mind races to find the best way away from the sound while also avoiding traps, which lands you running out of the side of a wall down a wooden side attached to the outside of the castle wall. Before you know it, you hear the sound of stone shattering and feel the rumble under your feet. A bomb.

You look up to see the faint grey smoke coming from atop the castle wall. You were just in that spot, how did…

Your thoughts stop and return their attention to that of Elena, who looks close to hyperventilating. You try to stay calm as you speak to her, “Hey we’re safe now, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

It doesn’t do much to help her. You look over to Jesse, staring at the grey smoke as he speaks in a hushed tone, “That couldn’t have been random luck… he had to have known…”

The words are sparing the details, but you know the gist of what he’s meaning. Usually a bomb with ticking like that would be working from a timer counting down, but in the scenario where he’s aiming to stop you, it’d make no sense. The delay may have been a mistake, but there was one thesis that was tearing into you: the man in the tower was watching and waiting for you to cross that rubble, and was aiming to take you out with a big bang.

Jesse quickly collects himself and turns his attention to Elena, “Let’s get out of here and get this girl to her family.”

“Yeah…” you shift your gaze over to the frightened girl. “She looks shell shocked. We’ll ask her about what she saw after she rests.”

The walk back to the center of town wasn’t long. Over the course of it, Jesse’s jacket ended up around Elena for her to hold on to. Her breathing was no longer ragged and her eyes no longer wide, but that didn’t comfort either of you considering her still scratched up frame and what she had witnessed. Once back, you instantly sought out Lena, who was waiting in the town square restlessly. Once she saw Elena back with you, you could see the wave of relief wash over her as she smiled, “Thank you both so much! I’m so glad she’s okay!” She crouched down to the girl as continued, “C’mon, your mom’s waiting.”

Elena keeps her grip on Jesse’s jacket as she follows behind Lena slowly. As the two walk away, you remark to Jesse, “Guess we’ll get her testimony when we get your jacket back, huh?”

Jesse chuckles, “Works with me.”

“Wanna head back to the inn for now?”

“Actually, mind if we head to the abandoned town hall for a minute? I’d like to talk to you about somethin’, but I’d like to be alone for it.”

You feel your heart drop. Anxiety suddenly fills you, and you can only barely speak, “Oh. Sure.”

You felt tense as you walked with Jesse to the old town hall, the fact that he chose a place that was pretty much assured to give you both alone time setting you on edge. There really wasn’t a word spoken between you both until you reached the steps of the old building. You take your bag off your shoulder as Jesse pushes open the door to the old building, and once you’re both inside, he doesn’t waste any time getting to the point, “Have I… done somethin’ to hurt you?”

You stand in complete shock, your bad dropped to the floor after his question throwing you for a loop. “Wh… what on Earth would lead you to think something like that?”

You wish Jesse would turn around so you could see his face, try to read what he’s thinking. He continues, “Maybe my mind’s just playing tricks on me, but… these past few days, it always looks like you’re just dyin’ to get alone. I ain’t gonna push you to be joined at my hip, but whenever we get a minute to unwind for the day…”

The whole world stops for a moment as you feel the weight of his words. It wasn’t because of Jesse, god no. It was because of you. Because of Genji. Something that your mind told you that you had to keep it hidden, and you’re struggling to find the right excuse as the silence sits between the two of you.

“Jesse, I…” the words are racing through your mind. Your mouth feels dry. “The encounters I’ve had just over this week have set me on edge more than anything. Over one week I’ve come across two demons, one of them saying he’s a high-level demon after he kidnapped me, and it’s…”

You really wanted to collapse. You didn’t want to be in this position with Jesse, but you never really considered your actions having consequences. Your unsuccessful attempts to meet Genji of course would have alerted your partner, who you were usually so happy to stick around with. You try and continue, “Goddamnit, I hate to just push it on a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’, but when it comes down to what’s happened, I…”

“You’d tell me if anything was bothering you, right?” Jesse asks after you trail off.

“Of course I would.” Just not this.

Jesse turns around to face you finally, and once you see his soft smile, the panic and worry begins to fade. “I figured you say that. That’s what I get for doubting myself, huh?”

You try to smile yourself as he places a hand on your shoulder and continues, “Sorry there, pumpkin. I know it’s been a lot. I wasn’t trying to imply anything bad by you, I was just worried I had done something to you to make you avoid me.”

You try to keep up your smile as your thoughts pound in your head. He still places his trust in you like this, yet you’re hiding something so major from him, and it’d be so easy to speak up now, be honest with him.

Yet you can only keep silent as Jesse says, “I’m sorry to drag you out here like this. Let’s head back.”

Back at the inn, you both take the time to rest briefly before heading down to the bar, where Moira has prepared meals for the group. Satya is already sitting at one of the tables eating, and before you can even say ‘hello’, she speaks, “I heard you helped Lena found that girl earlier.”

“Part of the job, ma’am,” Jesse responds with a tip of his hat.

For what feels like the first time, Satya doesn’t look at you with judgement in her expression. It throws you off guard as she instead speaks sincerely, “I’m friends with her mother. I was so relieved to see her back with her daughter. So, I’d like to thank you.”

“Last time we had a disappearance with a hunter around, he refused to help and stated that once he found the answer to the problem, we’d find him,” Moira speaks up. “He quit the job, and to this day our missing man is still considered such.”

“Sounds heartless,” you comment.

Moira chuckles, “It is. It’s why some people hold no faith for the hunters who stroll through here.” She looks to Satya as she continues, “Including one inn owner.”

Satya only continues eating, but you and Jesse already understood. Enough bad encounters with something will sour everything for you. People were no exception.

“Well then, ma’am, we’ll have to keep at it,” Jesse says as he walks over to the bar to eat. You follow behind as you hear Satya comment quietly, “I’d expect nothing less.”

“We still don’t have Elena’s testimony, but we can at least go over what happened. I’d like to talk about that bomb,” you start as you sit down.

You can hear Satya’s fork drop as you mention the word ‘bomb’, but Jesse continues on regardless, “Usually the ticking of bombs means its counting down from a set timer, but something in my gut tells me it was still set off manually. When I noticed it, I first noticed it coming from within the rubble.”

“So the hole in the top of the castle wall’s ceiling was set up deliberately to hide it…”

“Something’s telling me he’s tightened up security higher than we thought. It’s like he’s got eyes throughout that area, like he knew we’d come looking for Elena, and the rubble was a perfect place to waste time looking for her at by assuming she was under it.”

It’s all speculation, but when put together it made sense. It made zero sense for there to be just a bomb counting down when he had no idea if you’d even make it across that point. It made more sense to use it to lure you there first before setting the bomb, and it’s not like you left it once you came across it; Jesse was waiting there the entire time while you went after Elena.

“When did you notice the ticking anyways?” you ask.

“It wasn’t until after Elena was over the wall. I didn’t hear anything while you were gone,” Jesse responds after a bite of his meal.

It’d be one thing if the man in the tower was lurking around and planted the bomb when you were gone, but that’d be impossible if Jesse was there the entire time. The more you think about it, the less it makes sense.

“Finding a girl and escaping a bomb? Sounds like you two have had a busy day,” Moira says as she pours Jesse a glass of whiskey.

“Busier than the past few days at least,” you comment as you start to eat. “Still, I do want to go over the notes we have already and write down what we’ve uncovered today, even if…”

Your thoughts trail off as you realize something important. Your bag. You dropped in the shock of Jesse’s questions earlier at the town hall, and you didn’t pick it back up afterwards.

You slam your fist down on the table in frustration. Jesse jumps a bit before turning to you and asking, “Something up?”

“My notebook’s in my bag… and I dropped it at the town hall,” you groan as you rub your face and eyes. You look outside the window of the bar. “The sun’s setting. I’m gonna go ahead and grab it before night hits.”

“Aw c’mon now, at least eat first,” Jesse responds as you suddenly stand.

“I’m not gonna be able to get it out of my mind until I get it back,” you make your way for the exit. “Don’t worry, it won’t be but a minute.”

As you make your way back to the town hall, you notice some of the townsfolk returning home and locking up. Made sense, it was probably the curfew set by Lena. No one wanted to be out at night anyways, especially considering a child went missing earlier and was returned by hunters.

When you reach the town hall, you realize you and Jesse had left the door open to the building. Once inside, you see your bag exactly where you dropped. As you reach down to grab it, the door behind you slams shut, and when you jolt up and turn around, you see someone you didn’t expect to see with his hand resting against the door as he speaks, “Finally, a moment alone.”

Genji.

You almost drop the bag from shock again. You stare at him wide eyed for a moment before you speak up, “’Finally’? I’ve tried three separate times to get you to come out while alone.”

“Yeah, at that inn,” Genji chuckles from behind his mask. “Don’t you know that if something doesn’t work, doing it over and over again with no change won’t fix it?”

Your eyebrows furrow at his comment. “Maybe I thought you were busy…”

“Come on now, do you really think I’d miss an opportunity to see you when you’re glued to your partner all day?”

“Then why did you? Three times in a row?”

“Couldn’t get it, simple enough,” Genji answers as he approaches you. “I’d look around that inn. Something’s barring me.”

“…why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“This was the soonest I could, remember?”

It kind of frustrated you knowing he was right. He wasn’t necessarily in the wrong, but you were still frustrated with him. Here in this very building you had just had a confrontation with Jesse about how it looked like you were avoiding him, and now you’ve managed to score some alone time with the demon you’ve been trying to see. It made you feel so conflicted, and you wanted everything to just be his fault, but you knew that wasn’t the case.

“Enough about that, however, let’s get to the point,” Genji continues, walking past you to the desk behind you. “Noticed you almost died from a bomb today during that search in the castle walls. You think he managed to set up a bomb that could’ve been remotely activated, huh?”

As Genji goes behind the desk as if he’s searching for something, you respond, “Yeah, but I’m not sure how. Unless you have any insight on how he managed to set it up?”

“Easy enough. You’re completely wrong.”

Come again?

Genji pushes around the papers and trash around the desk as he continues, “You shouldn’t set your heart on an idea you can’t prove true. You’re thinking of this man as a true mastermind. That’s way too much credit.”

You raise an eyebrow as you watch him search, “Is this about the witch again?”

“A little bit, but I’m not able to let on too much, remember? Right now, we’re talking about the bomb. You think it’d be crazy if he just set up a bomb with no set time in hopes that you, Jesse, and that lost girl would all be there at the right time, right? Well, you have no proof that he could’ve done anything else, so why don’t you flip it, and just theorize that he’s crazy instead?”

“Then how come we couldn’t hear the ticking until right at the end?”

“It was too quiet. You couldn’t hear it until you focused in on it. Your partner was worried about you returning with that girl while you were on the other side, so he didn’t hear until he was relieved everyone was together and safe.” The rustling then stops as he grabs something from off the floor. “Don’t overthink it. I’m sure seeing his secrets and the traps already set you on edge, but you still have to think it through rationally.”

His words made you feel like a fool, but what else can you expect from the all-knowing audience member. It was something you'd never consider, if anything you'd expect that the witch controlling him would help set the bombs and aid him, let him know when to set them off, but when thinking about him acting on his own, the bomb having control made less sense. You never really theorized what the man in the tower was like outside of working with a witch. Guess it wouldn't be too unusual to assume he's just a maniac. You cross your arms and turn your head from him, “Alright, well is there anything else that’d be useful that you could tell me instead?”

“You know I’m not here to rush the story, just help it move along,” Genji jumps over the desk to walk back to you. “Right now, you’re on the right course.”

“Some help you are.”

“Well, if you insist, here’s a hint: find out what’s barring me from entering that inn to learn something new,” he comments as he now stands in front of you. He wasn’t that much taller than you, but from how he stood, his aura, and his mask that hid every sign you could possibly read on his face made it feel like he towered over you. He snickers at the face you make when he speaks and only continues, “Now, now, you know it’s no good if I just give you all the answers. Follow my guides and you’ll be able to figure it out. You’re only being impatient.”

You let you arms fall as you sigh, “Fine. I’ll trust you for now. I’ll figure out a way for you to get back into the inn.”

“Wonderful.” He gently grabs your hand to place something in your palm, and once you feel the cool steel against your fingers you know exactly what it is: Jesse’s lighter. You look up to him almost surprised but before you can even say a thing, he speaks, “I saw him drop it here. Figured you could use an excuse back.”

As he speaks, his head is turned to look at the skin on your hand and arm. His claws are still gentle, as if he’s purposely being cautious with how he touches you. You’re thrown back to that moment a few days ago where you were in the same position. He’s thinking heavily about something, you can tell. You just wish you knew what it was.

You try to avoid seeing the mask around his face as you comment, “Didn’t realize demons could be so tender. I thought you’d prefer to toy with me.”

“I could. It’d be cute to see you flustered.”

If he wanted to see that, all he had to do was make that comment. You turn back to face him, feeling the heat rise in your face, only to see him bring your hand close to his own face, so close it’s practically hitting the mask. “But I want you to trust me, so I’ll have to find another time or way to tease you.”

He really made you speechless. You couldn’t tell anything about him, couldn’t tell how sincere he was or how he really felt, but this moment with him felt so gentle, the exact opposite of how you’d expect to feel with a creature from Hell. You just want to see how he reacts, the faces that he’s making, if there was anything you could see in his eyes…

Maybe that’s what possessed you to move your free hand to his mask in an attempt to push it aside.

Genji was quick to react; before your hand even touched the mask, he’s dropped your hand and moved to behind you with in a split second. You turn on your heel to face him as he speaks, “I love your curiosity, but I’d like a little privacy of my own.”

“Everything about you is private…” you mutter to yourself, eyes darting away from him.

There’s a moment of silence before he turns to the side, “Then maybe over the course of your investigation, we’ll get to know each other a little more.”

It felt strange. Wanting to know more about a demon wasn’t on your priority list before, but if he was going to be helping you like this and be… close with you, then you wanted to know about him, what he was thinking, how he felt. It twisted you up inside, and it only added to the internal confliction you felt.

“I should head back before Jesse suspects something,” you say, eager to get out of the environment before your feelings became more scrambled. “I’ll take a look around the inn once I get the chance so you can get in.”

“All I can ask for,” he comments with a chuckle. “Hopefully our next meeting won’t be so prolonged.”

You nod, and within the blink of an eye, Genji has disappeared, and the door to the town hall is wide open once again. You look down at the lighter in your hand before shoving it into the pocket in your jacket before heading out.

Once back, before you can even enter the inn, you see Jesse heading out, but he stops in his tracks once he sees you. He gives a short wave to you before he says, “There you are. What took you so long?”

You’re quick to remember your excuse as you dig the lighter out of your pocket to hand to Jesse, “Figured I’d check for something else that was missing while I was there.”

He doesn’t say anything as he stares at the returned lighter for a moment. Then, he sports a smile as he comes around you to pat you on the back and push you inside.

“C’mon, you still need to eat somethin’.”

The evening past without event and the morning came soon. As you wake, your mind is filled with ideas of when to search for whatever was barring Genji from entering the inn, trying to figure out the best time to even begin the search, but that was quickly stuffed down when you hear distant yells outside the window of the inn. It wasn’t that early, but the noise was definitely off-putting to say the least. You push yourself out of bed to push at Jesse’s shoulder in an attempt to get him up, “Jesse. Hey, get up.”

Jesse slowly turns off his side from rest and immediately rubs the side of his face and eye with his hand. As he blinks awake, his expression turns sour as he notices the sound outside. “…’s a little unusual…” he comments as he rises.

Before the two of you can even discuss what’s going on, there’s a loud bang on the door of your room, and there’s no time to even ask who it is before they open the door on their own, revealing themselves to be Satya. She looks out of breath, wide eyed, as if she’d just seen a ghost. If the two of you weren’t awake before, you certainly are now as you’re set on alarm by her state.

Her breath is shaky as he barely gets out, “Town square… there’s… hurry…”

The two of you jump to put on something decent to where outside before quickly following Satya. You see no sign of Moira that morning as you both follow Satya outside of the inn to the town square, where you see a crowd of people talking loudly, some of them shouting at each other. You see Lena trying to play crowd control when Zenyatta approaches you, his frame visibly shaking as he speaks, “You’re here. Please… come with me.”

The worry was setting in as you follow Zenyatta around the small crowd gathered in front of the cause of concern. You could smell it from here, the foul stench almost making your knees give out. People looked visibly shaken, some of them crying as they turned away from the scene, while some eyes were fixated on it, and once you reached in front of the crowd, you saw something that would shock any man to his core.

Time was frozen as you stared at the macabre scene in front of you. A body, practically chopped up in pieces laid on the ground, no blood coming from it probably due to its age. It was rotting, the skin practically torn apart from maggots eating it. It was so horrendous; the thing barely even resembled a body with how grey it had become. The grim scene made you instinctively grab on to Jesse’s wrist for support as you desperately tried not to break down. You’re no stranger when it comes to gore considering your line of work and the creatures you deal with, but the public display of the aging body was so twisted.

But the real twist was what was displayed underneath. It was the only blood on the scene, and it was intentional. It was used to display a message, a warning, and once you saw it, you knew exactly who it was addressed to:

GET OUT.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, i returned to this to prolong working on my mccree cosplay and man, oh man was it worth it bc now i get to work on the PLOT. (and then more genji love)


	6. Chapter 6

Usually your job was about preventing any more deaths or tragedies, and with enough work and thought put into it, that was the result. Instead, you found yourself trying to reason with an entire town that had just gotten a free show of a rotting corpse. The vague threat didn’t help your situation either, everyone including you and Jesse knew it was aimed at yourselves, and that certainly helped the town in their sudden harsh questioning of your presence.

It started with a man grabbing Jesse by the shoulder as he spoke through gritted teeth, “This is your doing, isn’t it…?”

Jesse looks at the man puzzled for a moment before he regains his composure to speak, “Now, now, you wouldn’t believe we’d pull a stunt like this, now would ya?”

“Of course not, you moron, it’s your presence…” he sounds as if he’s trying to hide his rage, ready to pop at any second. “My son couldn’t stop crying when he saw his… could you imagine the traumatization for a six-year-old boy when they see such a disgusting scene?”

“Have you no shame?” a woman pipes in behind you two, and you’re quick to turn around and see her stare you down. You couldn’t blame them for being angry at the scene, but considering this wasn’t the first time a body defiled like this was discovered by the town, you couldn’t help but feel that part of it was irrational.

“C’mon, look a little more into it, why would he do this if he didn’t feel threatened—”

“What if this had been Elena?” another voice chimes in, effectively cutting off Jesse.

You can’t help but feel offended by that comment. “You do realize we were the ones that found her and brought her back safely, right?”

“Please everyone, this isn’t helping,” in comes Lena playing the peacemaker. “We’ve seen horrors like this and worse—”

The man previously grabbing Jesse’s shoulder rips his arm away angry to snap at Lena to yell, “We’ve never seen anything this disgusting out on display for all of us including our children to see! My brother saw his own wife mutilated in their home before he packed up, but I swore I’d stay here, try to protect the glory we held here… how I am supposed to do that when these two here are provoking whatever’s causing this instead of solving it?”

“Now yellin’ at a lady’s no way of solving this,” Jesse responds almost immediately, but that doesn’t calm him down.

“I bet it’s that fucking tower everyone’s been to afraid to mention… I’ve seen you two walking that way and then coming back,” he practically spat at Jesse.

“Isn’t that where Elena was also found?” you hear whispers from the crowd speak as they start to grow heated. This is getting out of hand fast, almost as if everyone was ready at the snap to attack you. It’s like they couldn’t see anything past the smoke and mirrors, only that there was a gruesome scene on display for everyone, and its message was geared towards you.

“Listen to me, please!” Lena says as she pushes herself between Jesse and the yelling man. “It’s a terrible scene, I agree, but we need to understand that this was left here because what’s haunting this town feels threatened.”

“And we’ve been feeling threatened for months,” the man tacks on. “We don’t know what’s hurting us outside of a few rumors, we watch our friends go missing, and now we get this out in the streets?”

“But that’s why we’re here,” you answer his rhetorical question. “We’re still figuring this out, and the last thing we want is just to spread what assumptions or little information we have when it could all be wrong.”

“This thing’s been hangin’ over the town for months, you think we’re just gonna make public announcements every thirty minutes with our next lead?” Jesse continues with you. “Job’s not that simple. You gotta let us work. Now this ain’t no new disappearance, the age of the body shows, and we can easily turn to Lena for a head count, but it’s still disturbing to see. That’s why we’re here though.”

The man’s anger seems to subside as he takes a step back and his face softens. He offers up no comment as he turns away and heads back into the crowd. You let out a sigh of relief, the last thing that everyone needed was a fight, but the weight was still on your shoulders. Either people were desperate for answers, or they just really wanted you out. Maybe it was both, who knows.

As the crowd tries to pry themselves away from the scene, Lena turns to you and Jesse, “Sorry, I think everyone’s paranoia has spiked after seeing this…”

“Well after a lot of failed hunters to boot, it’s not like I can blame ‘em, but…” Jesse trails off as his eyes shift to the body. “We can at least help clean this up. Give whoever this is a proper resting place and a little peace of mind to everyone else.”

“If it’s not too much, I’d like to know who this is as well,” you add. “It’s probably not a good idea to talk to them today, but I wan to talk with anyone who was close with the victim, see if anything was up before their disappearance.”

“Leave that to me, then,” Lena responds with a nod. “I think I have a lead on who they were, give me some time to confirm it, extend my sympathy, and see if they’ll be okay to talk.”

“We’re counting on you, then.”

“Also, about the burial—”

“Leave that to us, ma’am,” Jesse interjects. “I think I already know the perfect resting place for them. Just give us a little time to make the place.”

Lena looks a little confused at first, but she only nods before she walks off with Zenyatta. Once out of earshot, Jesse turns to you, “We probably want to bury them on the opposite side away from the tower.”

“You think if we bury it close to the tower that freak will come back to collect the remains?”

“Wouldn’t put it past him. He’s already desecrated the body enough, no need to give it back to him.”

An hour later, you find yourselves both with shovels and digging out a hole in the ground out in a field next to a large abandoned home. The field was gated off and sat on the opposite side of the tower, hopefully keeping the spot hidden enough to prevent the man in the tower from getting any ideas. The ground was perfect, soft enough to wear you and Jesse had a decent sized hole before another hour went by.

“Pretty sure there’s already a burial ground around this town,” you say as you continue to dig. “What will you say to Lena about instead burying them in the field of the home where someone once lived?”

“Just have to tell the truth, it’s safer here,” Jesse responds.

“And the rest of the town? ‘Cause it looks like they’re already finding some problems with us.”

“Well, lying about why’s not gonna make it any better,” Jesse stops for a moment, jamming the shovel into the dirt to rest a moment. “They already know about the rumors of the man in the tower, and burying them out here isn’t gonna help, but it’d be worse to take chances with it.”

“Fair enough.” You take note of the size of the grave, before sighing and collapsing down on the ground beside it, “This should be a good enough size. We should return back and grab the body.”

“Actually, before we head back, let’s check this house for towels. Probably want to cover the body up before we move them.”

Good point. You both make your way inside the house, looking through closets and taking what towels and sheets you can find. Once you’ve filled your arms with them, you make your way back to the center of town, where Lena is already waiting for you.

“I’m guessing the town’s graveyard wasn’t a good place then,” she comments as she notices the direction you come from.

“It’s not anything we can confirm yet, but we think it’s safer for the body there,” you respond, setting the towels down beside the body.

“Have to be honest, when you say it’s safer for a body that’s already been destroyed, that worries me,” she says as a hand runs through her hair. “But I’ll trust you on this one. On one condition.”

“Name it.”

“Some of the townspeople want to at least honor him by placing flowers on his grave, if you’ll allow us to.”

“Don’t see any reason why not,” Jesse answers with a tip of his hat. “Wouldn’t be right to stop y’all from honoring the dead.”

Lena smiles up at you both. “Here, let me help you.”

The time spent gathering the remains was silent. The stench was unbearable, the mutilated pieces were hard to look at, and it left a sinking feeling in your gut as if you had swallowed stones. You wrap the pieces of the body in the towels before wrapping them up in the sheets, somewhat masking their scent. Townspeople start to gather as you get ready to move the body. No words needed to be said, it was clear they were here to mourn for their loss.

A person missing is one thing. Death is certain. It sinks in as you and Jesse carry the body to the grave placed earlier, a small crowd behind you with flowers in hand. Missing allows the doubt, even if you know the truth that’s hard to accept, but death’s certainty allows nothing. It instead forces you to accept the hardest thing of all, and it leaves you with the painful, never-ending feeling of loss. The travel back to the empty field remains silent as the crowd grieves, the only thing breaking that silence is the quiet sob of a girl in the crowd as you and Jesse pass through the gate left open to put them to rest. She must’ve known the victim.

As you both move to start burying the body, some people start to lay flowers around the top of the grave. You notice the man who was yelling at Jesse earlier is here as he places a small vase in front of the grave, whispering what seems like a few last words. The real shock doesn’t hit until after you’ve finished burying the body and out from the crowd emerged someone you didn’t expect to see to place flowers on the grave: Satya, with Moira behind her for support.

While surprised, you find it best to keep it to yourself. You can always talk to her later.

The crowd remains to mourn their found friend. A few prayers are said amongst them, and while the awkwardness of sitting in for a make-shift funeral of someone you never knew sets in, you find it rude to just leave. As the people start to thin out, Satya and Moira included, you and Jesse take that as your cue to finally leave the scene.

It’s silent between you and Jesse for a minute as you leave the burial site, until Jesse brings up, “So, what was it that made him that angry?”

You’re snapped out of your thoughts to look up at him as he continues, “If anything, he knew about our existence yesterday with those traps and that bomb to add to matters. Think he was that upset he failed to kill us yesterday he decided to make a public threat?”

“Probably wanted to intimidate us,” you respond as you cross your arms. “We know barely anything about him, and now we get to worry about what he would know about us now. What he thinks we know…”

“Can’t spend too much time theorizing, though. We’ll just have to keep moving forward.”

“Easy to say, but still hard to put out of mind.”

“Well, there’s still something we can do. After everyone settles down a bit, we can try to talk to Elena, figure out what she was doing over there and if she saw anything.”

Everything worked about that part, except for the waiting. Impatience was starting to stir up within you again, and after four days of boredom followed the events of yesterday and today, you’re not sure if you could handle playing the waiting game anymore. You wanted answers.

Then, you recalled Genji’s words from yesterday. He was blocked off from the inn. Something was denying him access, and that prevented him from aiding you when you were able to score time alone from Jesse, and it was even harder to get time away from him outside the inn. If you were stuck waiting for the town to call down, why not make use of your time?

“If we’re waiting then, mind if I just head back to the inn to rest? The awakening we got this morning left me with less energy than I’d like.”

There was that familiar pain that hit when you lied to Jesse. It wasn’t overwhelming, but it was the right amount of pain that nagged at you as you looked Jesse in the eyes and hid something so important. Jesse didn’t appear to give what you said a second thought before responding, “Fair enough. Rest up, I’ll help out Lena if she needs it, and in a few we’ll get our answers.”

You smile and nod at him before turning around and heading towards the inn. Genji didn’t say what was blocking him from the inn, but it shouldn’t take too much looking around to find what it is. What gave you this sinking feeling was knowing that someone else had set it, and that means they knew that Genji was there and possibly that he was aiding you. You didn’t want to think about Jesse being the one who knew, but he seemed to know nothing. Then again, if he knew you were lying to him, what would stop him from lying back?

As you enter the inn, you see no signs of anyone. Satya must still be grieving, and Moira might still be by her side. You didn’t think either of them would know that a demon was here, but you couldn’t give anyone the benefit of the doubt now. After doing a quick look around to make sure no one else was here, you dive behind Satya’s desk, looking for anything that could lead you to your answer, be in sigils or signs of witchcraft, but no luck. Just a desk.

You leave the reception area to make your way to the bar. Again, no one in sight. You move your way to the back of the bar to continue your search, but underneath the bar, hiding amongst the bottles, nothing jumps out at you. You travel through the door behind the bar to look through the small kitchen. As you shift through items in the pantry, looking through cabinets filled with dishes and silverware, you keep coming up short.

It really started to feel like a wild goose chase. No matter what crevices you search, you come up with nothing. Then the thought it hits you, what if it was hidden in another room? You weren’t sure of how many rooms were in this inn, but you knew there had to be a good amount. Hopefully you’d have enough time to check out all of them.

After two rooms, you were starting to feel pretty hopeless. You’d check under the desks, under the beds, in the closets, around every spot that could hide a small sigil or witchcraft spell, but nothing. The more rooms you check, the more it starts to feel pointless and it’d be easier to just find another spot to meet Genji.

It’s not until you open the door that’s just across from your own room that everything changes.

The usual desk, chair, and bed pushed all the way to the side to make room for a giant sigil painted on the floor. Sitting in the circle of the sigil is a cloth filled with ashes, and bones that looked like they once belonged to a small animal. It’s jarring to see, the size and intricacies of the sigil could easily be explained to help keep Genji out from every aspect of the inn, but the set up of it blew your mind. Barely anyone would get the entire inn to themselves here, who had the time to set this up?

There are a few possibilities, but those will have to be pushed back for now. You quickly step into the bathroom, run your hand under the water, and then quickly return to the sigil to run water across it, blurring its intricacies and ruining its effect. You knock over the neat pile of ashes for added effect, and with that, Genji should have easy access to the inn again, and the next time you’re alone, he should be able to help.

Deciding that to be enough, you leave, shut the door behind you, and head back to your own room to get at least a little bit of rest.

It doesn’t even feel like a few minutes have passed before Jesse returns to the inn to grab you, entering the room with a soft callout, “You can’t be that deep in sleep, can ya?”

You rollover in your bed to face him and speak, “Couldn’t even get asleep, mind you. Sometimes it’s harder to sleep when you’re already tired.”

Jesse chuckles at your comment before replying, “C’mon. Lena went ahead and told Elena’s parents we’d be stopping by. Looks like she’s relaxed enough from yesterday to be able to talk to us now.”

You rise from your bed with a stretch and a yawn before you grab your jacket from the foot of the bed and follow him out. As you make your way out of the inn, Jesse leads you to a home not too far, where Lena is already waiting outside. She waves to you both as she greets you, “Thanks again for earlier.”

Jesse nods as he responds, “Thanks for helping us out and getting her folks to agree to speaking to us.”

“The town may have some doubts with you now after this morning, but I’m still in your corner. I want you to be able to figure this out, and I’ll help however I can.”

“You’re doing more than enough, Lena,” you comment with a smile. “Leave it to us. Thank you.”

She sports a grin as she nods and walks past you, leaving it to you to talk to Elena. You take a deep breath in before knocking on the door. The next moment, a tall woman opens the door by a margin and peaks out to see you two, and once she gets a good look of you, she opens the door fully and greets you, “Good afternoon… I take it you’re here to talk to Elena?”

“Yes ma’am,” Jesse says with a tip of the hat. “We probably haven’t been formally introduced. Name’s McCree, and this—”

You interrupt him to give your own name, “A pleasure to meet you, miss. Is it alright if we speak with Elena now?”

“Of course. Please come in.”

She moves from the doorway to allow you entrance, and once inside, you can see Elena sitting inside beside a man on the sofa, the man presumably being her father.

He stares you both down hard, but you combat that with a greeting, “Pleasure to meet you, sir. We won’t be too long.”

His mood doesn’t change, but Elena instantly perks up when she sees the two of you. You wave to her, and Jesse speaks, “Glad to see you’re doing better today, miss. Mind if we ask a few questions?”

Elena gives a small nod, and you both sit down in the chairs parallel to her. You start, “Can I ask why you went that far out towards the tower that night?”

She’s silent for a moment before she speaks up, “I… wanted to see it again…”

What she says catches her father’s attention. “See what again?”

Her father’s interruption causes her to stay silent for a moment until Jesse helps, “Hey, it’s alright. Just tell us the truth. We want to help.”

It takes a moment before Elena continues, “It was a few weeks ago… during the night, I heard something collapse outside my window one night, but I couldn’t actually see through them since they’re all boarded up, so… I went ahead and peaked outside the door to see what fell. And then I saw it…”

“It?”

“This… machine… it looked weird, like it was covered in something wet… it floated above the ground as it moved, and once I saw it, I couldn’t forget how it looked… like it burned into my memory.”

Her father stares at her in disbelief, but it fits exactly with what you saw during your stakeout of the tower. You probe her, “What made you believe that if you went over towards the tower, you’d see it again?”

“I… thought it looked like that’s where it was trying to go…” Elena continues. “It was hard to tell, but… everyone always talked about the rumors of the tower… how strange things were sited there… I didn’t know where else a machine like that would be stored.”

“If you knew of the rumors, then you had to know of the danger that could’ve lied over there.”

“But I wanted to know!” Her sudden exclamation startles you and your partner, and even her father looks at her in shock. “We’ve known about the tower for a while now… and I saw something that maybe would give us a hint as to what’s happening to my friends and my friends’ families, and…” Silence hits you again as she tries to collect her thoughts. “I knew no one would believe me about a floating machine just appearing in the town at night… it’d just be another rumor… but maybe, I could connect the dots and actually find the truth…”

“Elena, you’re still young, you should’ve never tried to go out that far—” her father tries to reprimand her, but Elena cuts him off.

“Would you have believed me had I told you? Would you let me talk to the hunter? Of course not, because I’m still a child!”

Her father looks angry but stays silent. Elena may have endangered herself and worried her family, but she may have him pegged. Trying to ignore the tense environment, you continue your questioning, “You were missing for a while and we didn’t find you until the afternoon next day. What happened?”

“I… tried to navigate through the castle walls and way around the tower but… I think I tripped a trap on my way working through him… there was a metal spring on the ground and I think I ended up kicking some rubble into it and it snapped shut… it honestly scared me, but instead of turning around, I kept going in further. Then I noticed more traps and… bombs… it honestly scared me…”

“I understand. It was probably a lot to take in.”

“It was all for nothing though… I didn’t even see anything else. I got so scared it was hard to move around. Next thing I knew the sun was starting to rise…”

“Can I ask you one more question, darling?” Jesse asks as she trails off. “When you saw that machine, did anything… happen before that? Anything that sticks out around the timeframe?”

Elena ponders the thought for a moment before she has a realization and looks back up at you both. “Actually, yeah. The previous hunter quit the next day. Just up and left.”

“I remember that guy as well,” her father tacks on. “We had some confidence in him, until he just disappeared. No quitting notice, no nothing, he just packed up and fled town.”

You take out your notebook to write down what Elena has told you as Jesse thanks them, “We appreciate your time.”

You finish writing and throw the notebook back in your bag and thank them both before following Jesse out the door. Both Elena and her father are silent as you take your leave, the air still tense after Elena’s earlier outburst.

Once outside the home, Jesse’s quick to speak up, “So one of those machines we saw was spotted in the town, and the next day, the hunter previously hired to work this case quits? Somethin’ don’t add up.”

“Not a word was said either, he just left without a trace…” you trail off as you both walk back towards the inn. “We really need that deliverywoman to return. We already have one question still waiting to be answered since we last saw her, and now we have something else for her so soon.”

“It’s been a few days since we’ve seen her… hell, it’s been nine or ten days since we’ve been here.”

“Has it really been that much time? It doesn’t even feel like we’ve found that much here…”

“It’s certainly taking some time, but for a job that’s caused others to quit and go missing, is it hard to believe that it’s not an easy answer?”

Good point, but it doesn’t mean you had to like that fact.

Once back at the inn, you peek inside the bar to see that Moira has returned, dusting around the back of the bar. Before you can even greet her, she turns to face you, “I see you’re back from a hectic day. If you’re hoping to eat though, it’ll have to wait a minute. Haven’t even started yet.”

“We’re patient, that’s fine, just glad you’re back,” you respond. “Where’s Satya?”

“I recommended she spend the rest of the day resting at home. The body found in town… she was friends with him.”

“Figured she might’ve known him. We saw you both there,” Jesse says as he leans against the doorway. “She looked like she was grieving.”

“He disappeared not too long before you both arrived here,” Moira continues, her eyes shifting back to dusting the bottles behind her. “When people go missing around here, even when you know the truth is probably the worst, it doesn’t hit you fully because there’s still that small chance that they’re still alive out there. Even Satya got caught up in that. Today was probably the harsh reminder, not just for her but for many others here, that someone being missing shouldn’t be mistaken for comfort.”

Her words sting, but the truth rings out with every syllable. Death was unavoidable in your line of work, but that didn’t mean that whenever it occurred you felt nothing. It was still hard, still sad to see others lose their loved ones. Moving on just became easier.

Moira sighs as she puts down her polishing rag before looking at the both of you. “Sorry, today’s been a stressful day for all of us involved. We’ve never really seen a display this macabre before. I’d really enjoy it if I could get some alone time for now.”

“Perfectly fine, ma’am. We’ll get out of your hair,” Jesse responds as you both start to leave.

“I’ll let you know once dinner’s ready.”

Once back in your own room, the weight of Moira’s words still sit on your shoulders. Death really had a way of coming in and reminding everyone of its presence. As you and your partner lay on your own beds, it really hits you in a way other cases haven’t. Maybe it was due to the size of the town and the urgency of the case that caused you to see this in a way you haven’t before. Now you got to see the victims that death left in its wake firsthand, and it happened to involve an entire town.

“Hey Jesse?”

“Hm?”

“What would you do if this was our last case together, and I ended up as a victim in this case as well?”

“I don’t want to think about that—”

“Just for a moment, do,” you rise to sit up in your bed. “If you were to lose me, would you be able to move on?”

He’s silent for a moment. “Why bring this up?”

“A spur of the moment thought. Something that sits on my mind in the aftermath of today.”

Jesse takes in a deep breath before he speaks up, “Well… first I’d have to avenge you, finish the case myself and make sure whatever took you gets a bullet through the heart. Then, I’d have to keep moving on, finding new cases, doin’ you proud. Then maybe, in whatever afterlife we see, I’d get to see you again, and hopefully you’ll be happy.”

“Would you be able to move on from me?”

“… I’d like to say I can, but I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I could.”

You’re not sure what sort of answer you were expecting, and his answer doesn’t give you a clear feeling. You find yourself unable to respond as you look down at the floor underneath your feet. Jesse takes your silence as a bad sign as he also rises from his bed to sit up and look at you. “Didn’t like my answers?”

“It’s not that, I just… I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I asked it, but it’s something that’s already so hard to talk about… and when something like today happens, it’s…”

In this room, with the windows boarded up, the only light source came from a dim lamp that rested on the desk and the small sliver of light between the boarded-up window. As you start to look up towards Jesse, instead of being drawn to his face that was clearly shown in the light, you were instead drawn to the shadows behind him that were caused by that one dim lamp, because in those shadows, something was there. You struggled to keep your composure as you saw someone you didn’t expect to see so soon.

Genji.

Jesse notices your shock from seeing him as he raises an eyebrow, “You alright?”

“Y-yeah, just… I think by asking that question, I bit off more than I could chew.”

It’s hard to look at Genji as he stands behind Jesse, so it’s hard to see what Genji was doing. Jesse continues, “It’s something that’s hard to talk about, just as you said, but you understand I meant what I said about you, right?”

It’s hard to say anything. You don’t trust your own voice.

“Y’know you mean a lot to me, right? So it’s hard to think about losing you, hard to think about if I could move on from you… but what I do know is certain, I’m glad we’re partners in this. I’m glad I have you with me.”

His words almost make you forget that Genji is a spectator in this scene. Jesse’s gentle smile makes you feel at ease and forget the difficulty of the current topic, but you can only hope that this begins the end of the conversation so you can find a way to excuse yourself for Genji.

“I’m sorry for bringing this up, I just…”

“Ain’t no need to apologize, darling,” Jesse responds as you trail off, leaning forward to place a hand on your shoulder. “This job’s… different to say the least. It’s been messing with me as well, what we’ve seen… it’s not like the usual vampires and werewolves we come across, but we’ll find our answer, even if we’re forced to face some creatures and feelings we haven’t felt before.”

“And I’m glad you’re here with me through it at all.”

Jesse’s smile only widens at your comment. “I’m gonna go out for a minute, smoke a cigar, clear my head. Wanna head out with me?”

Perfect.

“Gotta be honest, I wasn’t able to sleep earlier, and I’m not even sure I’m gonna have the energy to even head downstairs when it’s time to eat later,” you lie as you rub your eyes. “I’m gonna try again to take a nap. After today… I think I need it.”

“I understand. I won’t be too long.”

You can’t even watch him walk off because after he left your field of vision, your eyes instantly shift up to see Genji leaning against the wall, arms folded and head tilted to the side.

“You really had to come in at that moment, didn’t you?”

Genji scoffs, “Wasn’t my intention to ruin such a heartfelt scene. I was just happy you found a way for me to get back in.”

“About that…” you lean forward as you sit on your bed. “That was no ordinary sigil. It was far more intricate… that’s not something from a hunter, but it doesn’t look like a spell from a witch either.”

“You’re not wrong.”

“So do you want to tell me what could have?”

“Now where’s the fun in that?”

Alright, now he’s trying to test your patience.

“Genji,” your nails dig into the sheets of the bed as you speak your mind. “This isn’t something I can just work through with my partner. This isn’t something that’s related to the current case, this is about how something, or someone, knew you were here and deliberately set up a way to keep you out. I’m happy for your help, but if you want to keep helping me, you have to do something more about what’s trying to stop you, or else…”

“You think you won’t be able to see me anymore?”

He’s right, but it’s hard for you to actually speak in agreement.

Genji moves from leaning against the wall to sit beside you on the bed. “I understand your frustration, but we have to tread lightly,” he starts. He doesn’t sound like he usually does, like something’s stuck on his mind. You want nothing more than to see what expressions he’s making underneath the mask just so you can understand him. “As you said, this isn’t something you’re working with Jesse on, but that’s why with what information I give you, you need to be careful. If you step too far based on what I tell you, it’s going to look suspicious to him.”

You look down as he speaks. It’s a fair point you haven’t considered. He continues, “That being said, you’re right. It’s not the work of another hunter, so Jesse definitely did not put it up. It’s not a spell from a witch either. That’s the keyword, though. From a witch.”

Now that catches your attention. “You mean… it’s a different form of magic?”

Genji says nothing to your comment as he goes on, “Might I make a suggestion? Since you both know that a witch is behind it all, try to do a cleanse of magic throughout the town. Start here with the inn. You’re both knowledgeable, I’m sure you can find a way to include all types of magic and find who’s blocking me and why. You might be able to find more answers about the witch when you do that, but it should lead you to the answers.”

“Good idea, actually…” you’re amazed at yourself for not thinking of that to begin with. It would give you answers to how to make sure Genji has free access to see you, but you could learn something new about the witch.

Now there’s a moment of silence between you. It felt awkward, but it threw you back to that night after Hanzo had kidnapped you and injured you, how Genji was silent as he hid his feelings and studied you, but you weren’t feeling like being kept in the dark right now.

“Tell me what you’re thinking right now. You’re quiet.”

“You were getting to talk with Jesse about what would happen if this is your last job together. I was getting to think about what if this was our only job together.”

You hadn’t thought about that. What would happen if you solved this case and moved on from Aldersbrunn? Would Genji even be able to follow you, or would you have to say goodbye? Fantasizing about the end of the case was easy, but in that desire to work it, find the answers, you’ve left out losing Genji, who’s acted as a cryptic guide, and it leaves an uncertain feeling in your stomach.

You don’t want him to go silent. “Don’t stop now. Please tell me…”

He lets out a broken laugh before he does as you ask, “I’ll be honest with you. I’ve been around as a demon for a few hundred years. I came to this town because it was interesting. It was like a story you couldn’t get anywhere else. Just when it started to look like the answer of who would prevail in this town became clear… two new hunters showed up, and I saw one of them…”

He looks straight at you as he continues, “And then all of a sudden, I knew I wanted to stay here.”

It wasn’t normal to have this sort of moment with a demon. This sort of tender talk and intimate feeling didn’t really fit with a demon, but here he was saying something that considered you, being honest with you, and it made your heart feel weak.

You found it hard to keep looking at him after his confession, even through the mask. You return your gaze to the floor under your feet. “Kinda surprised you’d want to tell me this. You’re a high-level demon, aren’t there easier ways for you to just get what you want?”

“I could drag thousands of men to Hell if I wanted to. I could tear apart entire towns. That’s not what I want to do though, and even with all the power that I do have, it wouldn’t be able to give me what I want.”

“What do you want then?”

“You.”

Your breath catches in your throat. Did he really just say that? You can’t find it in you to look at up after that. When you think about a demon wanting someone, you can only thing of horror stories where you’d end up getting hurt or dead, but this was anything but, and it was sending your emotions haywire.

“I understand you need rest after today’s events. I’ll go ahead and take my leave.”

“No, wait,” you’re quick to say. Before Genji can even move to get up, you grab his hand, and you can feel your heart racing. You must’ve caught Genji off guard, because he’s quick to turn his head to look at you. “Jesse… might be a few minutes for his smoke break since he has to be a way from the inn at Satya’s demands.”

“And?”

He’s really going to make you say it, isn’t he?

“Please… stay until then, even if it is just a few minutes… you don’t always have to go so soon…”

You look up at him as he responds, “What about resting?”

“You can still stay with me while I rest.”

“… you want me here?”

It’s hard to answer that question.

Genji decides he doesn’t need your answer. He shifts to lay down on your bed beside you as he speaks, “I’ll make sure I’m gone before he returns. Rest easy.”

This was… closer than you had pictured it to be. You didn’t think he’d actually move to lay down in your bed, but once he did, you didn’t want to tell him to move. “You don’t need rest yourself, do you?”

“It’s more of a luxury instead of a necessity,” Genji comments as he lays on the pillow on your bed. “But I will say, I wouldn’t mind a few minutes relaxing with you.”

He had to say that. After every word and confession he’s dropped on you, he keeps adding to the pot, and it’s giving you a rush of emotions that make your heart ache and soar at the same time. Seeing as he was already laying on your pillow, you instead moved to lay down with your head resting on his chest. Genji seems surprised by your choice, feeling tense as you stayed that close, but then moved his arm to wrap around you, keeping you close.

It felt so strange to be this close to him. The claws on his hand didn’t feel threatening as they rested against your arm, and you couldn’t bring yourself to look up at his mask as you lay there. It was hard to even speak now, but one thing was for sure, whatever you were feeling, it felt nice. You felt relaxed against him, as if this job and why Genji was in your life right now didn’t even matter.

It may be a few minutes before Jesse returns, but it only takes a few seconds in this position for you to finally drift off and get the sleep you were denied earlier, feeling your worries fade as you rest against Genji.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god fuck storm rising came around and genjis in the event and while its fun to play him in storm rising and in retribution again, its also nice just to. see him. so handsome i die


End file.
